The payments industry went largely unchanged for many decades, but in the last few years it’s undergone some major updates. Fraud has been steadily increasing for years, and it can have devastating consequences for both merchants and consumers. With that said, the objective of many of the changes we expect to see in the future will make it possible to move money cheaper and easier, but also more securely.

Here are some predictions for the future of payments, according to Aliant CEO Eric Brown:

The future of payments will have all kinds of new fraud features

Fraud is rampant in our current credit card authorization and settlement system, which was designed in the 1970s and has not been updated for today’s tech-driven world. Before we get into the ways that we expect to see fraud be combatted, let’s define the types of fraud:

• Stolen credit card info. This where thieves troll the black online marketplaces for files containing thousands, or even millions, of stolen credit card data. This is organized theft by more sophisticated networks of people.
• Friendly fraud, which is where a consumer buys something, charges it back, and then either keeps or resells the items.

Expect to see more biometric authentication

To combat fraud, the complexities of verification for consumer sales will continue to evolve. Currently we have SMS text verification, IP address tracking, pin-based verification, and dual authentication where you need to enter a specific code via an authenticator app. In the future, we expect verification to include biometrics, meaning that we will see an increase in technology that uses voice verification, eye scanning, and fingerprints.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency will thrive

In another attempt to combat fraud, blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption will continue. Cryptocurrency processing eliminates chargeback fraud and identity theft, because once a transaction hits the blockchain, there’s no reversing it or stopping it, and no charging it back — which is great news for merchants.

This is one of the reasons we are currently seeing many major players- merchants, banks, and other large companies- get involved with blockchain and cryptocurrency. While traditional financial institutions and corporations have been slow to embrace crypto, many are now licensing blockchain technology, patenting their own bespoke blockchain technologies and adapting the array of benefits that blockchain and cryptocurrencies have to offer. Merchants of all sizes and industries are now accepting crypto payments, and the technology has come a long way in a short amount of time. We expect this to only continue.

Here at Aliant, we are proud to offer our merchants a crypto processing solution that allows them to accept Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum payments. To get started with crypto payments for your business, click here!