This week, I was honored to represent Flexa as the keynote speaker for the CIO member group of the National Retail Federation in a session entitled, "Understanding digital currency payments." To share one slide from the presentation, along with a few thoughts, consider this... Consumer demand for disruptive technologies always grows exponentially. 5 years ago, only 1% of US consumers had traded in bitcoin and 46% had heard of the term ‘cryptocurrency.’ It’s now 16% have traded in #cryptocurrency and 87% have heard about it. The increasing rate of US consumer adoption and awareness around digital currency (and the utility of #digitalassets for use in payments) is surfacing an increased interest in education by brands as many retailers start moving out of the 'wait and see' lane and into exploring tactical strategies that can be used to harness this alternative form of payment. On a separate note, but tied to this idea of disruptive technologies and consumer adoption, many of you may have made the connection that it was 15 years ago this month that Steve Jobs introduced the smart phone (Jan 9, 2007), which cosmically aligned with Blackberry officially shutting down its platform/service this month (Jan 4, 2022). In a 15 year span, a company that once held 20% of the moble market share is no longer. There have been books and case studies written about Blackberry's failure to stay ahead of the consumer trend lines (read the first 20 pages of 'Think Again' by Adam Grant). And so as we follow the headlines, the research, trend lines, and the technology, we anticipate QR code capabilities, #digitalcurrency payments, and the security of #digitalwallets to replace well known aspects of the existing #payments universe within the next 5 - 10 years as merchants and consumers embrace a safer, faster, easier, and less expensive payment experience. While the NRF presentation was centered around helping leading retail CIOs better understand #cryptopayments as a whole, our dialogue that day was about so much more as we looked at the status quo and envisioned what could be (or now is). I am, as always, grateful to be working with Fortune 500 retailers as Flexa helps chart the course forward in this brave new world of payments.
The team is Amazing, the fundamentals are impeccable, the compliance is on point. Success is imminent for Flexa. Thank you for all your hard work Eric.
Jeff Myhre
2y
Nice share Eric. Absolutely no doubt there will continue to be adoption and disruption with digital currency and digital payments on blockchain technology. If only we could predict the big winners over the next 15 years!
Keep an eye on Flexa.
Anne Jetter
2y
Sorry to miss the session - Sure it was awesome. Go Flexa!
Craig Span
2y
Good stuff, Eric. Would love to connect soon to talk about Flexa
Gift card expert | CEO UK Diggecard | IMA Europe President - The Incentive, Reward & Recognition Association
2yWow sounds like a big gig! Sounds like you smashed it.