As Washington shifts focus to the next phases of the coronavirus crisis response, there is more vocal discussion of infrastructure investment. Any investment in infrastructure needs to include digital financial infrastructure. It is imperative that the U.S. upgrade its financial infrastructure on four digital fronts: payments; currency; identity, and data.
How Biometric Wallets and eMoney Ensure Nations Can Respond to Pandemics
The U.S. government needs a stimulus payment system that ensures the policy objectives are met. It could be based on programmable eMoney (“digital dollars”) or eVouchers that are time-stamped, purpose-limited, and even location-limited to prevent users from hoarding them. Loans to small businesses could be tied to payroll or capital expenditure. Such eMoney or eVouchers could be sent or received directly to users’ eWallet accounts and settled over an automated clearing house.
Visa gives Kenya’s Safaricom ‘missing link’ for global payments
Under the deal, M-Pesa’s 24 million users and 173,000 local merchants will be linked to Visa’s 61 million merchants and its more than 3 billion cards. The mobile phone-based M-Pesa will serve as a virtual card, allowing users to make payments abroad when they travel and also letting them transfer cash from their Visa-linked debit cards to their M-Pesa wallet even when they are abroad.
Posted from Diigo: https://www.diigo.com/user/kiffmeister/Fintech