Micropayments: the final frontier for electronic consumer payments

Small payments of less than $5 have resisted the wave of electronification that has swept consumer payments in recent years. However, a number of innovations — both new technologies and new ways of doing business — have done much to make such electronic “micropayments” less expensive and more convenient. Now, having proven themselves in several online markets, micropayments are poised to make inroads at the physical point of sale. This paper looks at some of the success stories (and failures), both in the U.S. and abroad, to identify possible conditions for success and to gauge the outlook for the future. It finds that industry structure, the coordination of standards, and customer preferences and experiences have all influenced the development of these products. While different markets around the world have supported different types of solutions, the successful products have delivered clear utility to the consumer, along with compelling economics for the different parties in the value chain. With critical mass in sight, the future looks promising.Electronic funds transfers

DEMATERIALIZED MONIES – NEW MEANS OF PAYMENT

In this paper, we will outline the financial context in which the main means of payment dematerialization occurs. We will present the main characteristics of these new types of dematerialized monies: electronic money, virtual money, digital money, private money, purses and holders.Means of payment, dematerialized monies: electronic, virtual, digital, private, purses and holders

Dematerialized Monies – New Means of Payment

In this paper, we will outline the financial context in which the main means of payment dematerialization occurs. We will present the main characteristics of these new types of dematerialized monies: electronic money, virtual money, digital money, private money, purses and holders.means of payment, dematerialized monies: electronic, virtual, digital, private, purses and holders.

SHAREDWEALTH: A CRYPTOCURRENCY TO REWARD MINERS EVENLY

Bitcoin [19] is a decentralized cryptocurrency that has recently gained popularity and has emerged as a popular medium of exchange. The total market capitalization is around 1.5 billion US dollars as of October 2013 [28]. All the operations of Bitcoin are maintained in a distributed public global ledger known as a block chain which consists of all the successful transactions that have ever taken place. The security of a block chain is maintained by a chain of cryptographic puzzles solved by participants called miners, who in return are rewarded with bitcoins. To be successful, the miner has to put in his resources to solve the cryptographic puzzle (also known as a proof of work). The reward structure is an incentive for miners to contribute their computational resources and is also essential to the currency\u27s decentralized nature. One disadvantage of the reward structure is that the payment system is uneven. The reward is always given to one person. Hence people form mining pools where every member of the pool solves the same cryptographic puzzle and irrespective of the person who solved it, the reward is shared evenly among all the members of the pool. The Bitcoin protocol assumes that the miners are honest and they follow the Bitcoin protocol as prescribed. If group of selfish miners comes to lead by forming pools, the currency stops being decentralized and comes under the control of the selfish miners. Such miners can control the whole Bitcoin network [29]. Our goal is to address this problem by creating a distinct peer-to-peer protocol that reduces the incentives for the miners to join large mining pools. The central idea is to pay the “runners-up” who come close to finding a proof, thereby creating a less volatile payout situation. The work done by the “runners-up” can be used by other miners to find the solution of proof of work by building upon their work. Once they find the actual solution they have to include the solution of the other miner in order to get rewarded. The benefit of this protocol is that not only the miners save their computational resources but also the reward is distributed among the miners

The electronification of transit fare payments: a look at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's New Payment Technologies Project

Over the past decade many of the nation's largest public transit providers have gone from fare-payment systems based on cash and coin to more modern electronic systems that implement payment cards, including agency-issued prepaid cards, credit cards, and debit cards. On September 16, 2008, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) as it attempts to redesign its transit-fare payment system to accept payment cards. Jerry Kane, manager of SEPTA's New Payment Technologies Project, led the workshop. This paper summarizes Kane's presentation and the ensuing discussion. In addition, this paper offers some thoughts on why the modernization of transit-fare payment systems has begun around the country; what obstacles still stand in the way of using credit, debit, and prepaid cards to pay fares; and what this movement means for consumer payments generally.Payment systems ; Credit cards ; Debit cards ; Transportation

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SECURITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MEANS OF PAYMENT DEMATERIALIZATION

Some items regarding electronic commerce, electronic vulnerabilities, electronic means of payment, digital money and electronic micropayments are presented below. Then is presented a method of assessing the quality of applications and e-commerce Web sites. This method is then adapted from the operational point of view, developed and implemented in the study of the electronic micropayment systems’ security, in the purpose of analyzing and evaluating their security in the context of the means of payment dematerialization.e-commerce, micropayment, security, encryption, digital economy, EWAM