Bloomberg beat me to the punch with their great article last night on Apple Pay Later and Apple Finance LLC (must read). Well, I was certainly wrong about one big thing in my Project Breakout blog “Apple doesn’t want to be a bank”. Quite frankly I believe even Goldman Sachs was surprised by the scale of what Apple is building. Last night I outlined the key points:
Apple announced a new service at WWDC 2022 yesterday (Youtube – ~21:00 in). What is it and how does it relate to their recent acquisition of Credit Kudos?
6 June 2022
Square’s stock (aka Block) took a big jump after last week’s announcement that they would also be a partner in ApplePay’s new ability to accept payments. Today I thought I would cover what this will (likely) look like and 5 reasons why Apple Tap and Pay is a big deal.
The future for a US CBDC is uncertain. While President Biden signed an executive order in March 2022 directing the government to “Explore a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by placing urgency on research and development of a potential United States CBD”, US banks seem dead against it.
This is my third blog on CBDCs, today the focus will be on the societal benefits of CBDCs, current bank resistance, and the opportunities for banks if they embrace it. The previous 2 blogs are blow and I’ll try not to repeat myself:
©Thomas Noyes, May 2022
My blogs last week have me thinking about the changes going around in Identity. This will be a long blog. Typo warning.. I’m still revising.
The number one thing I look for in payments is change: volume, technology, behavior, data, …etc. Effective networks are notoriously hard to change, but they are also very resilient (see blog). Small changes in data flows, can lead to significant changes in margin and “control”. Margin and control guide both public and private investment (see Evolution of Visa and Mastercard Beyond Payments).
Identity is our most important asset — it’s literally who we are.
Our complete “identity” is known to no one, as each entity we interact with has a partial view of us based upon what we chose to give them and what they observe. How others accept and validate our identity, and how others share insight about us, is the core of payments (see Trust Networks and Authentication in Value Nets). The structure, exchange, and assertions associated with identity are defining: web3, DeFi, Crypto, CBDCs and the Metaverse. These are not separate silos, but rather overlapping ecosystems that must interact, thus the importance of bridging identity across networks/domains (see Blog – Trust is domain specific).
Brazil’s Central Bank is now recognized as the leading innovator. Both in PIX and CDBC launch this year.
Identifying new networks is a must for any investor. The growth rate of network businesses dwarf most other models as each node invests something in joining. Mobile has transformed the time for network effects to reach critical mass – moving from 20 yrs (think debit card and mobile phones) to months. When network effects take hold, Investors see opportunity in both the network core (owner) and the periphery. We also look at how new services will impact existing established players
Short blog as follow up to yesterday’s blog on Acceptance Hurdles in eCommerce. Successful innovation requires a great new customer experience and/or economic model. The most recent success in the US is Shopify’s Shop Pay.
Please excuse typos.. Editing not complete. I had a great compliment this week: “Tom you write so dense.. why are you so different”? I’m not an analyst or a blogger, but a guy that has run operational businesses and led venture investments. The only great thing I’ve ever done in life is to meet great people with passion and ability to execute on a vision. This blog is how I chat with all my colleagues. Glad others find it useful..
This is a rather long blog.. if you don’t have time read the wrap up at the end which is a summary of key points.
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Continuing on from yesterday’s blog on Authentify – Bank ID Service, I thought I would outline the role of identity in eCommerce and the problems to be solved. Although most of you know me as a payments guy, I also have deep roots in data working directly with retailers, AdTech, Google/FB and media (in addition to issuers/acquirers/networks). In looking through eCommerce articles I couldn’t find one relating to identity (from a big picture perspective).. So I thought I would write one.
Very short Blog – Recapping a few tweet streams.
I think FedNow is a great effort to provide an open alternative to TCH’s RTP. I’ve spoken with, and consulted for, the KC fed on a number of occasions and provided my input to the FedNow service back in 2013. Per my blog last week the survey result from the Fed’s efforts found “emergency bill payment” as the top consumer use. Paying someone faster brings on risk. The Fed depends on banks to manage risk and price that risk. As a former banker running payments at 2 of the largest banks I have a view here.
Sorry for typos
My good friend Dave Birch wrote a piece in Forbes today on Account to Account transfer threat to V/MA. I wanted to provide an alternate view. This will likely be a multi part blog.. today I’m starting with the consumer and the merchant (from a US perspective).