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There is an extended version of this on my substack channel here
https://bitesizepayments.substack.com/publish/post/191148138?r=5zpu1m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
In 1995, I picked up Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital. The premise was simple but profound: the world was shifting from atoms to bits. Physical things were becoming digital information, and that transformation was going to change everything about how we live, work, and interact.
I was entering the payments industry around that time, and I genuinely believed I was joining that transformation. That payments were making the leap from atoms to bits right alongside everything else.
That was thirty years ago.
And here's what I've learned: we never made that leap. Not really.
Now, the payments industry will tell you we're digital. We've got mobile wallets, instant payments, ISO20022, cloud infrastructure, APIs everywhere. We tap our phones instead of swiping cards. We process billions of transactions in seconds. We think we're sophisticated. Advanced. Digital.
But here's the truth: once you get past that thin layer of shiny technology, we're running on systems that were designed seventy years ago. This series is about getting to digital Payments and what we need to think and worry about.
Send us Fan Mail
Payments Industry Insights
History of Payments
Payment System Explained
Corporate Payments Strategy
Payment Regulations Impact
ISO20022 Standard
Digital Payments Evolution
CBDC Advancements
Cryptocurrency in Payments
Financial Technology Education
By Paul ThomallaThere is an extended version of this on my substack channel here
https://bitesizepayments.substack.com/publish/post/191148138?r=5zpu1m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
In 1995, I picked up Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital. The premise was simple but profound: the world was shifting from atoms to bits. Physical things were becoming digital information, and that transformation was going to change everything about how we live, work, and interact.
I was entering the payments industry around that time, and I genuinely believed I was joining that transformation. That payments were making the leap from atoms to bits right alongside everything else.
That was thirty years ago.
And here's what I've learned: we never made that leap. Not really.
Now, the payments industry will tell you we're digital. We've got mobile wallets, instant payments, ISO20022, cloud infrastructure, APIs everywhere. We tap our phones instead of swiping cards. We process billions of transactions in seconds. We think we're sophisticated. Advanced. Digital.
But here's the truth: once you get past that thin layer of shiny technology, we're running on systems that were designed seventy years ago. This series is about getting to digital Payments and what we need to think and worry about.
Send us Fan Mail
Payments Industry Insights
History of Payments
Payment System Explained
Corporate Payments Strategy
Payment Regulations Impact
ISO20022 Standard
Digital Payments Evolution
CBDC Advancements
Cryptocurrency in Payments
Financial Technology Education