A Glimpse into the Future of Payments at Money 20/20

Regulation and Decentralization Emerge as Key Themes at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas

I am still relatively new to the fintech world, having spent the past three decades selling hardware and software to some of the largest high tech companies in the world.  Since my start with Crowdz in September of this year, my exposure to blockchain, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies has dramatically increased. I have been reading, absorbing, and talking to many people I know who have working knowledge in these areas. Still, there is so much more to learn at Money 20/20.

No Shortage of payment processing companies  

Sometimes trade shows can be a very fast way to learn and see what other gaps are out there.  Sometimes.  My experience at my first fintech trade show was Money 20/20 in Las Vegas this past October.  Current and future financial regimes congregated under one massive roof. The buzz was intense. There were more payment processing companies than I ever imagined existed. Regulation and decentralization were the common threads I encountered in conversation. Across the row from the payment processing startups were traditional banks and credit card companies, equally wary of the potential regulatory sea change on the horizon.

All about the blockchain

Of great interest in the blockchain track sessions were smart contracts. Noticeable show floor speculation surrounded whether additions to smart contracts could supplement future regulation.  Given its decentralized nature, blockchain has great potential to broadly integrate robust business rules, enabling greater efficiency in execution with less enforcement effort. Considering there are very few smart contract programmers using Solidity compared to Python, Java, or other popular languages, there should be a lot of new potential contributions on regulation inclusion and business rules innovation. 

Change is in the air

I’ve worked for some high tech companies that claimed they were in the “wild west” of technology and new markets, and they were partially right.  But theirs was nothing like the wild west the fintech and cryptocurrency world built on blockchain is seeing. Digesting the diverse directional visions of the many companies I spoke to was both exhilarating and chaotic. I came to the show with questions and knowledge gaps; I left with more.  Perhaps all that was my own ignorance, having only been in this world for such a short amount of time. But I know the feeling companies have, not quite sure what’s around the corner. And I got that feeling a lot in my three days at the show.

I believe Crowdz is in a great position within the trade finance ecosystem and within the directional vision of cryptocurrency and smart contracts.  It will be exciting to see what the Money 20/20 show will look like next year and to see how this new world of finance will start to unfold.