A Cashless Society: The Digital Payment Methods you can use in 2022

Digital Payment Methods

Is a cashless society inevitable? We do not want to get into conspiracy theories, but as of 2022 more people than ever are paying for goods and services using some form of digital payment method or another. Whether or not we become fully cashless remains to be seen, but we thought we would take a look at several of the newest and most popular payment methods which do not require physical cash.

PayPal – The Daddy of them All

First up is PayPal. Granted, this is by no means a new digital payment option but it was pretty much the first and remains by far the most used and well-known of them all. Founded in Silicon Valley by Elon Musk and the ‘PayPal Mafia’, PayPal quickly became the number one payment method used on the marketplace website, eBay.

Now-a-days, pretty much every website will allow you to pay using PayPal. From the mega marketplaces like Amazon all the way down to the small blog sellers selling their homemade jewellery. However, even PayPal has become a little dated compared to modern-day payment methods – let’s discuss some of them now.

Apple Pay

Apple Pay is the online payment method which can be used online as well as in your local stores, and this is where the technology has advanced from PayPal. Apple Pay is a form of mobile payment method which, unsurprisingly, you can use via your mobile phone. Apple Pay works simply as an e-wallet. You can register an account and connect it to your online bank and it acts as an easy-to-use and safe buffer between your bank account and the supplier.

Apple Pay is completely free to use and can be downloaded on all modern mobile and cell phone devices. Of course, you will have to connect your bank account to the app for it to work. Most physical stores accept payment via Apple Pay, you just open up the app and use your phone as if it is your credit or debit card. It really is that simple.

Of course, Apple Pay can also be used when making payments online. It offers a second layer of safety, as you do not have to share any of your bank details when making transactions. You can even make online casino deposits and withdrawals using Apple Pay, such is the reach of the tool. Apple Pay is here to stay for the future too given the popularity of iPhones. When you buy a new iPhone, Apple Pay will be automatically installed into your device.

Boku

Over 1 billion mobile users are registered with Boku as of 2022. Although it still has a long way before it catches up with Apple Pay, Boku is a brand-new and fantastic digital payment method which offers users ease, simplicity and safety.

Boku is very similar to Apple Pay and basically offers the exact same service. It is also headquartered in Silicon Valley but has offices across the world.

Bitcoin

By far the most famous of all cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is becoming more and more accepted by both online and physical business sellers. If you haven’t heard of Bitcoin, then we expect you have been living under a rock for the past decade. If you bought a single Bitcoin a decade ago, it would have been worth around $1, fast forward to 2022 and now a single Bitcoin is worth around $40,000.

You can now use Bitcoin as a digital payment method to pay for all sorts of goods and services from a takeaway pizza to a brand new car. The hope for many is that it will be the number one currency used in the world one day. In 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as its national currency. It seems Bitcoin is here to stay.

Ethereum

A cryptocurrency created by the Russian born Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum is a little bit like Bitcoins little brother. As of April 2022, one Ethereum is worth approximately $2,000 and can be used as an online only currency.

If cryptocurrencies are to become the transaction methods of the future, then you can expect Ethereum to be one of the major coins within the sphere.

The Future of Online Transactions

Of course, the number one currency or digital wallet of the future may not yet have even been invented. The world has changed dramatically within the past two decades and with the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos looking to shape the future, the sky is not even the limit!

Whether or not a cashless society really is on the horizon remains to be seen, but the hope is that whatever happens, the future is something to be excited and optimistic about rather than pessimistic. As Elon Musk stated in his recent TED talk interview, ‘we need a future worth getting excited about.’

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The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of The World Financial Review.

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