This past year has been challenging for a variety of reasons. Constantly adjusting to new circumstances has become the standard norm for businesses worldwide, as they have been affected by the pandemic outbreak, the war-induced energy crisis, the cryptocurrency market crash, and high inflation rates. Due to the aftershock we could see from the events over the past two years, 2023 might be more even challenging, especially for the fintech market.

It is expected that in the near future, people worldwide will continue to live their lives and interact with one another, but in new and different ways. The following are a few trends to keep an eye out for in the financial technology industry in 2023.

Top Fintech Trends in 2023

Blockchain technology

Blockchain technology will continue to make itself permanent in the financial sector in 2023. The blockchain is a decentralized public ledger that stores data in chronological order for the public to access.

Blockchain tech is considered decentralized because it is maintained by a network of computers rather than one entity such as a bank. This technology is significant because it is one of the most secure ways to store data and uses a decentralized platform that a single organization does not control, allowing for transparency.

The rapid transfer of digital assets such as stocks and bonds was where we saw the first application of blockchain technology. The technology is now being used in the financial sector to develop new products that improve the efficiency of digital asset transfer.

Dubai’s government has announced that it will use blockchain technology for functions of the government and this acceptance is likely to be followed by a few other financial institutions and potentially governments.

Artificial intelligence

Currently, banks are some of the most profitable institutions on the globe and as a result, are some of the first companies to embrace artificial intelligence in the financial sector. AI assists in analyzing customers’ behavior, and as a result, banks can further personalize client communication, offers, and advice, along with payments that are AI-enabled. AI also helps investors at banks make decisions based on market trends and data analysis.

AI is extremely effective in combating cybercrime, money laundering, as well as financial fraud. As a result, it enables the automation of high-value processes that are complex, and at the same time, it also detects hacked data, and potential data breaches, which ensures client security and privacy. As a result, implementing AI into fintech will continue to gain traction, and drive further adoption and acceptance of AI technology.

Peer-to-peer finance and credit

Peer-to-peer (P2P) finance and credit will also continue to be a major trend in 2023 and in the following years. A plethora of fintech companies offer the ability to customers to connect one-to-one. Some businesses allow users to borrow money from other users without providing financial security. This type of financial communication is becoming increasingly popular among millennials and gen-z, who previously viewed this type of financial transaction.

Individuals first used P2P technology to send money to one another. However, various financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, and even non-financial companies, are now utilizing the technology. A typical integration that banks are adopting is the utilization of Zelle, which is a type of P2P communication that allows customers to send money back and forth.

Contactless payments

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most transactions were made online because. This happened because of the health guidelines related to distancing socially. The most significant trend in payment innovations was the rise of contactless payments. Contactless payments via credit cards, debit cards, and wallets on mobile have become the new normal for most payments and financial technology projects.

Apple Pay was introduced, helping Apple users to easily pay for all types of goods with iPhones or their Apple Watches. Soon after payment systems by Google and Samsung jumped on board immediately after. Fintech advancements will likely drive additional changes in the payment landscape in specific industries such as education and government.

SaaS platforms Revolution

Who hasn’t heard of Stripe? They have evolved into the fastest-growing startups related to fintech payments ever, and by 2021, they were valued at $95 billion. Companies like Stripe serve as a fantastic example of the increased adoption of financial technology for payments. Stripe is serving individuals as well as businesses.

Other online payment platform titans, such as Mind-body or Shopify, have also transformed the space. They evolved into systems in high demand and solutions for payments, providing their users with cutting-edge platforms for eCommerce and business management while easily integrating the ability to accept payments and handle other financial aspects of their organization.

The platforms provide a better experience for the customers and faster product delivery, resulting in increased customer satisfaction. This development trend of implementing financial technology into SaaS platforms is expected to rise in 2023.

Fintech Growth During COVID-19

Despite the chaos and uncertainty that COVID-19 brought to the global financial market, fintech reported average growth in Q1 and Q2 of 2020. Though this growth was not uniform across all regions and markets, the industry quickly responded to the pandemic’s challenges by tweaking existing products and services or adding new ones based on market conditions.

However, fintech faces significant operational, financial, and regulatory challenges worldwide. For example, even before the pandemic, fintech startups had difficulty raising funds because many investors preferred to prioritize fintech with an established and clear business model, already proven by larger corporation. Fintech companies are faced with the challenge of convincing investors that their products with solve a need for their customers and have the ability to scale.

Conclusion

In short, significant disruption will occur in the financial sector in 2023 if financial technology continues to develop in the way that it is currently. Out of all the top fintech trends in 2023, blockchain technology is the most significant. Blockchain technology should be definitely be kept on watch as it will continue to gain popularity and will most likely be used in various financial services. In addition, AI will continue to be implemented to improve payment services and customer service capabilities of software and financial products.

Furthermore, as financial institutions turn to digital technologies to improve the customer experience, peer-to-peer capabilities in financial products will continue to be more prevalent. If you work in this field or are considering investing in a financial technology solution, it is important to stay up to date on all facts that are affecting the financial technology industry!

The hiring process can be extremely time-consuming and requires significant resources as well as an ongoing effort from your human resources department. For example, in order to hire for a position you are looking to fill, you must first write an accurate job description, publish it on relevant job sites, screen candidates, interview potential staff, and finally choose the best candidate or candidates. But, while hiring attitude beats aptitude always.

But how do you choose the best candidate for the position? While many businesses value an employee’s hard skill set and experience, experts believe focusing on this isn’t necessarily the greatest approach to evaluating and comparing job candidates.

Instead, businesses generally have more success hiring when they are focused on attitude rather than aptitude. That is, looking for a candidate that embodies your ideal employee and fits in well with your current staff members and corporate culture. If you’re searching for a long-term employee, looking for someone with a positive attitude and a drive to learn and grow will render better results for you and your business.

Attitude vs. Aptitude

Why Attitude Beats Aptitude

Attitude

According to last year’s statistics, 46% of all new hires fail within 18 months of starting their employment, and 89% of the time, the cause for an employee failing is due to attitude. The most common reasons are lack of drive, inadequate emotional intelligence, temperament behavior, and other personality traits not conducive to working in a hierarchy.

Attitude is commonly a predictor of a new employee’s long-term performance. This is due to the fact that while innate talent can and does change and improve over time, an individual’s personality typically remains constant. Typically an employee’s behavior in their present stage is likely to stay consistent over time and they will continue to behave that way in the future. This is such a crucial factor in the hiring process and can change your company’s culture.

The required flexibility a role requires, an individual’s passion, and leadership qualities are what can make or break a candidate’s ability to perform and live up to the responsibilities of the role you’re hiring for. On the contrary, the ability to fit in with the company’s culture and hold similar values is also critical.

Aptitude

Although attitude is crucial, the relevance of aptitude among job candidates should not be overlooked. 57% of organizations globally are experiencing a shortage of sufficiently skilled entry-level personnel, and are continuing to emphasize the importance of education and industry experience.

Before making a hiring decision based solely on attitude, companies ensure that the candidate has the cognitive ability to learn the necessary skills to accomplish the job. This confirmation can potentially come in the form of a relevant degree or certificate or prior employment in the industry.

Employers must also ensure that new hires are eager to learn the skills necessary to progress in their professional careers; if they lack qualifications in these areas, they may be unwilling to complete the rigorous training that the role may require. Training is costly and time-consuming, which businesses must consider during their recruiting process.

How Attitude Beats Aptitude

The benefit of prioritizing attitude above aptitude when recruiting is that individuals who exert positive attitudes are likely to be very agreeable and eager to learn additional skills. Attitude mirrors personality, which is far more difficult to modify than a personals technical ability. In this day and age, personality attributes such as adaptability, passion, the ability to accept and embrace feedback, as well as accountability are necessary in nearly all work environments. Recruiting is expensive, and the associated costs of a new hire can be as high as 150% of the individual’s yearly compensation for applicants who have experience.

In order to recruit successfully, companies should be focused on the attitudes and personality features of their current employees, particularly top-performing employees. Recruiting managers and human resource departments should be looking for candidates who exhibit similar traits.

The Importance of Hiring For Attitude

Although some professions may require a highly precise set of abilities or expertise, it is equally crucial to prioritize job candidates’ attitudes and personalities for a handful of reasons. It is important to note that attitude beats aptitude when it comes to leadership and decision-making skills. So just aptitude alone is not enough.

Employees’ attitudes affect your company’s culture

Since many job searchers prioritize business culture in today’s job market, employers must prioritize hiring individuals who fit well with the company culture. Employers can accomplish this by carefully assessing employee attitudes during the hiring process and finding the underlying similarities and values that individuals at your company possess. Hiring like-minded individuals will help boost job satisfaction and improve your overall working environment.

Long term success

It is significantly more frequent for a talented and experienced individual to underperform due to a negative attitude. However, individuals who have a positive attitude and are team-oriented approved typically perform and out-last their experienced peers, regardless of experience. This is constant and is demonstrated in various industries, with different occupations and multiple income levels.

Your employees represent your company

When recruiting someone who will have front-facing contact with customers or clients, it is critical to hire with an attitude in mind for these positions. Customer-facing employees are the first impression of your organization, representing you when they speak with consumers or clients. An employee with a terrible attitude can quickly damage your company’s brand reputation and result in negative reviews online which can be detrimental to customer trust and can be difficult to reverse.

Is Attitude Alone Good Enough

The first and most obvious issue with recruiting simply based on attitude is that, while technical abilities may be taught, not everyone has the ability or willingness to learn certain hard skills, particularly at a high level.

Another specific talent that many big and small businesses and recruiters think recent college graduates lack is business acumen. On the surface, this appears to be a highly teachable skill set that seems to be better suited to be developed when an individual reaches the “professional world” rather than during their time at school.

But what if an entry-level candidate lacks business acumen due to a lack of genuine interest in your company or industry? Perhaps they are applying for a job due to family pressure, because their friends are doing so, or out of desperation.

No matter how adaptive or coachable these individuals seem to be, they are unlikely to be good long-term prospects for organizations wanting to develop their talent from within. This scenario of a candidate with hard knowledge but a negative attitude demonstrates the fine line that exists between attitude and aptitude when hiring. This fine is the precise place that a recruiter needs to handle while hiring because attitude beats aptitude and they cannot take any change in hiring the wrong candidate.

Conclusion

While it seems obvious that focusing on a candidate’s attitude should play a significant part in your hiring process, there may be specific circumstances in which abilities and experience should be given the ultimate priority. In a few special cases, you cannot follow the golden line that attitude beats aptitude. You need to weigh this decision on what the role is and how that individual will function within your company.

You also need to be aware of the mentality that dominates your company and seek to fill open positions with individuals who are a good cultural match. It is highly suggested to build an Ideal Employee Profile in order to have on hand a list of qualities and character traits that you want in your ideal candidate in addition to the hard skills that you’re hiring for. To accomplish this, you need to examine your best performers to see what kind of attitudes they have, how they interact with staff on a day to day, and who they are outside of the office. What are the non-technical talents that contribute to their success?

Making hiring decisions strictly based on aptitude can have a detrimental impact on your company. Keep in mind the impact that hiring an employee with the right attitude and the ability to learn can do on your organization. But, we can comfortably conclude that always attitude beats aptitude.

It is general knowledge, particularly among those working in financial services, that the COVID-19 pandemic drastically enhanced the demand for digital products and digital banking globally. A swarm of fintech startups developed in the hopes of satisfying those needs while established banks scrambled to improve their digital offerings.

Additionally, there were the businesses looking to break into the space that existed before the pandemic. NorthOne, a New York-based challenger bank, is one example of a startup that was founded in 2016 by Eytan Bensoussan and Justin Adler. Their goal is to help small business owners such as barbers, mechanics, and local restaurant proprietors implement digital finance.

NorthOne is a smartphone app and web banking service that provides powerfully easy financial solutions to over 320,000 small companies in the United States. The corporation’s headquarters are in New York City, with satellite offices in San Francisco, Portland, and Toronto.

When the pandemic struck, small businesses we’re affected like no other. Some did not survive, but many did so by pivoting or surviving the early days of the crisis by altering their business models.

Digital Finance Department for Small Businesses

NorthOne’s spokesman stated that the Canadian startup relocated its headquarters to New York since it primarily services American small businesses. The company, however, continues to operate in Toronto and maintains a presence there.

NorthOne was initial launched as Ferst Digital, and was founded by returning investor Ferst Capital. Bensoussan also is listed as the CEO of Ferst Capital. In the fall of 2017, Ferst Digital was relaunched as NorthOne. NorthOne, a provider of small business banking products, raised $67 million in a Series B fundraising round last week. The investment brings the company’s total funding to more than $90 million.

“We’ve been able to dependably design a business banking experience that unlocks an extraordinarily high product-market fit by obsessively focusing on our customers’ demands,” stated NorthOne CoFounder and CEO Eytan Bensoussan. “As our customers increase in size, their challenges expand beyond their bank accounts.”

“We can give a transformative product that has previously felt out of reach for our customers: a world-class finance department designed for their business by linking the data layer between accounting, receivables, payables, lending, payroll, and the bank account ledger.”

NorthOne, whose services are supported by The Bancorp Bank, has lofty goals. The fintech company aspires to be “America’s digital finance for small businesses, powering every small business.” The company is currently developing new capital funding and credit products, speedier payment methods, and additional integrations to achieve this goal of being America’s digital finance for small businesses.

The Rise of NorthOne

Despite being in one of the worst fundraising situations since 2008, this $67 million round demonstrates that there is still a strong belief in the future of small businesses in America, with NorthOne leading the effort to help them along the way.

NorthOne Fundraiser

Top investors from around the world, including Battery Ventures, Don Griffith, Drew Brees, Tom Williams, Tencent, Redpoint Ventures, Operator Stack, and Next Play Capital, rallied around the New York-based startup’s mission and product, bringing NorthOne’s fundraising total to $90.3 million since they launched.

Justin Alder, one of the founders stated that “NorthOne was founded to solve large difficulties for small enterprises. He stated that, “Over a 5-year time horizon, 50% of small businesses in America fail, and the majority of the failures are the result of poor financial management and a lack of financial systems and controls.”

Series B Investment

NorthOne has expanded rapidly in recent years and they have reported to have hired more than 70 new staff last year, a 230 % increase over the same period the prior year. In addition, they have also expanded and launched a new office in Oregon in 2021, and six months after than they opened their San Francisco branch.

This new round of investment, according to NorthOne, will help the company establish and build new working capital and credit products, as well as increasing their ability to offer timely and simple payment solutions. According to TechCrunch, NorthOne does not intend to go on another recruiting spree with this new round of funding.

NorthOne stated that the Series B investment had taken the company’s total funding to $90.3 million since 2016. Their previous rounds of funding included a seed round in 2018 where they raised $2 million and a Series A round in 2020 where they raised $29.3 million.

NorthOne Strategy

Even though the business does not currently have a sales team, and uses the internet to generate their leads, they also run an in-person event series in several cities around the country to provide educational information to small business owners. NorthOne also collaborates with organizations like Profit First, which provides financial management guidance to small business owners and mid-size companies.

According to the founders, NorthOne strives to provide its consumers with access to its services in as many convenient ways as possible. due to their efforts, although they are a digital finance solutions firm, they also enable their customer to accepts cash deposits, for example, through a network of agreements with corporations such as Walmart, 7-11, and OfficeMax.

Alder states that “it’s crucial because small businesses do deal with cash, as much as we’d like to think it’s all done online.” He noted that “the vast majority of American businesses continue to use these types of money transfers, and we must go to them.” The series A round that NorthOne raised was by Battery Ventures mainly, and they are increasing their stake with this latest round.

The company is focused on dialing in on working with the Small Business Sector, and ensuring that these merchants are set up and prepared for operating in digital future. It seems that NorthOne is will continue to raise capital, and since they are focused on providing their customers with the education they need to learn and grow within the digital space, it seems like they will continue to grow in on a national scale and strengthen their reputation with businesses across North America.

In our daily lives, we sign a variety of paperwork. We do this in person, for example with receipts at restaurants, and digitally, by signing something like an online banking form. Many of the products and services we use every day require our signatures. But, should small businesses require receipt signatures? Let us discuss it in this article.

Some consider this an outmoded formality, particularly in low-stakes contexts such as a restaurant or retail store, however, legally binding signatures are required for contracts and professional agreements. Each person or business that signs these documents agrees to the terms and accepts responsibility if something goes wrong.

Whether you sign documents in person or electronically, it’s critical to understand the many types of agreements that require a legal signature and what makes a signature legally enforceable. As businesses continue to become more modern and offer digital solutions, they rely more heavily on electronic documentation. The following explains the reasoning behind why many small businesses no longer are required to collect signatures, and what they are using as another layer of security.

Should my Customer Sign Receipts

Do Small Businesses Require Receipt Signatures?

If you have an EMV-compliant card reader, collecting receipt signatures is optional. EMV cards are chip cards, and since the card’s information is kept on a chip rather than a magnetic stripe, the information has different encryption and is more secure.

When it comes to preventing credit card theft, EMV outperforms receipt signatures. According to Visa, counterfeit fraud has decreased by 76% for EMV-compliant merchants since 2015.

Some small businesses, like diners, use receipts to collect tips or as evidence of permission for work orders or recognition of work that has been done, and may still find receipt signatures valuable. Businesses no longer need to get signatures for chip cards and contactless transactions, putting an end to a practice that had become a mundane task for both customers and businesses.

Signature Requirements For Receipts

The receipt signature requirements don’t really do anything to reduce fraud, as evidenced by users drawing smiley faces or nonsensical gibberish on signature lines for years. Many retailers have long stopped checking receipt signatures against cards, preferring to speed up checkout lines rather than add an extra layer of chargeback protection. So it is not mandatory that small businesses require receipt signatures under some laws or for some additional advantage.

Signature requirement

Of course, merchants of all sizes can still request identification from customers before consenting to conduct a transaction, so the signature is substantially less important in this situation. Due to the technological developments of contactless payments and EMV terminals, merchants are likely extremely relieved that they can remove the signature requirement as a part of their transaction process.

Signatures, especially with chip cards, add a little bit of added security to EMV transactions and will only slow down the checkout process. Swiped cards are a different story; their signature requirement still applies. A signed credit card receipt isn’t a huge deterrent against fraud, but it’s better than nothing and should still be applied when customers are swiping cards.

Why Were Customer Signatures Required

Credit card businesses have relied on receipt signatures to avoid fraud for decades. They required merchants to collect and record customer signatures so that if a transaction was challenged, the shopkeeper could produce a signed receipt demonstrating that the buyer was physically present in the store and accepted the purchase.

Without this proof, retailers were liable for chargeback losses. They were also held accountable if the signature on the receipt did not correspond to the signature on file or the card. Chip readers have supplanted customer signatures with the introduction of EMV-compliant card readers.

How Does No-Signature Transaction Work

Before EMV technology, the typical method of validating a credit card purchase was to sign a receipt. Signature restrictions did not keep fraud away, and the procedure was less secure. Credit card firms discovered a more secure approach to safeguard cardholders from fraudulent or unauthorized transactions while expediting the in-store checkout process. Here are three things you should know about the non-signature transaction process:

Card duplication

Due to the fact that EMV readers and NFC terminals are being used more frequently, card duplication fraud is significantly decreasing. This is the process where after a customer makes a card transaction, the merchants’ credit card terminals capture the customer’s card information illegally. This is called credit card skimming – or card duplication – and this has significantly decreased since the implementation of EMV chip cards and contactless payments.

Authentication

When you place your chip card into a top-of-the-line POS system, you will see an alert like “do not remove your card.” During this time, the chip, the small microprocessor on the credit card, sends a unique code to the issuing bank and back to the terminal in order to verify the card. Only when the card has been verified will the customer be told to “remove card.”

Unique code

EMV cards generate a unique code for each transaction that your bank validates each time, and the code cannot be re-used. A scammer or person trying to impersonate you cannot replicate a transaction using a fake card with stolen data at an EMV terminal because it would not generate the proper code and end it to the bank. This is why it is courageous for businesses to have EMV terminals in order to protect all customers from credit card fraud.

Conclusion

Many merchants believe it is “better to be safe than sorry” and continue to require signatures. Putting a signature on the receipt really won’t help much regarding chargebacks and fraud allegations. Payment technology has progressed much beyond that. It is entirely up to you whether you require signatures for credit card transactions, but remember that credit card brands do not require it from any merchant at any time for any transaction. Sometimes, merchants will require a signature for purchases over a certain dollar amount, typically over $1000.00.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to eliminating signatures. Even if you remove them from your EMV credit card receipts, you may find it useful to include a signature requirement in different types of contracts or work orders. Signatures are useful for more than just authorizing credit card transactions, and they can protect you as a merchant many ways depending on the type of business that you do.

At this point, you should be aware that the credit card processing industry is mostly made up of smoke and mirrors. There is minimal openness about how credit card processing fees work, what your organization will spend as an expense to process cards, and the specific terms around opening a merchant account with different merchant service providers. Therefore, it is important to understand the credit card processing service agreement that is the basis of any association with the provider company.

Just because a sales representative tells you something verbally does not mean that the same verbiage will be reflected or included in your agreement. Whether you own a bakery, restaurant, retail store, or professional services firm, your customers have high expectations, particularly regarding the forms of payments you accept and the simplicity of the transaction.

Offering your customers more payment alternatives can mean the difference between you making a sale and a customer turning elsewhere. This is why selecting a merchant services provider is so important. Choosing a provider who can assist you in meeting your customers expectations is critical to the success of your organization.

How Does a Merchant Service Agreement Work?

When signing up with a merchant services provider for a merchant account to process credit and debit cards, there is a process that they are responsible for when enabling your business to process payments. During a transaction, the acquiring bank performs the following processes to process and accepts electronic payments as part of the merchant processing agreement: These are important factors that are covered under the credit card processing service agreement.

• The credit card is swiped, chipped or tapped
• The acquirer obtains the card information from the payment terminal
• This acquirer, a financial institution, transmits the data to a payment processor
• The Card Association then communicates this information to the bank that issued the card
• The transaction is approved or denied by the issuing bank
• If the transaction is approved, the credit card association sends a code to the issuing bank
• The identical code is sent to the acquirer
• The code is subsequently transmitted to the merchant’s credit card machine
• This code authorizes the transaction, and the payment terminal can generate a receipt for the customer
• The merchant will have funds deposited into their account in the following 48 hours

What to Look For in Your Merchant Credit Card Processing Service Agreement

Termination fees

The first thing to look for in your credit card processing service agreement is the charge that you will have to pay when you terminate the agreement.

You can be charged an early termination fee if you cancel your merchant account before the agreed-upon date. Many merchant services agreements include a termination fee; however, in recent years, more businesses have shifted to a month-to-month deal with no cancellation penalty.

Early termination fees range from $295 and $750. Some companies demand this fee even if your company closes or is sold to a new owner. Keep in mind the amount of the termination cost, if any. Depending on the merchant services provider that you select, the early termination fee is only negotiable sometimes. Clarify with your merchant services provider whether or not they will charge you a fee if you decide to cancel early.

Liquidated damage clauses

A liquidated damage clause in the agreement might make switching processors nearly impossible. A liquidated damages clause states that if your company ceases to process, the merchant services provider will charge you for the amount of profit they estimate to receive during your contract term. Liquidated damage clauses are important and an integral part of a credit card processing service agreement.

Assume your merchant services provider earns $500.00 monthly from your company in credit card processing fees. For example, if you signed a three-year contract with a merchant services provider, but after 18 months you have to close your business, your merchant services provider will charge you for the difference, in this case, an additional 18 months, of their expected profit based on your contract. That would be about $9,000.00. Make sure that your merchant services agreements do not have liquidated damage clauses.

Contract length

Confirm the term length of the merchant agreement you are considering before moving forward with opening an account. If there is a term, it is typically three or five years. There should be a contract length specified in the merchant application. However, as long as an early termination fee of $0.00 is listed, opening an account with most merchant service providers should be considered a month-to-month agreement.

Red Flags in Merchant Service Agreements

Below are some examples of what red flags to look for in a merchant credit card processing service agreement.

High fees and extra charges

The majority of the complaints concern discriminatory charges. Some payment processors charge merchants for early termination or PCI compliance. For example, the usual charge for early termination is roughly $400. However, numerous merchants have complained online about paying much more in the name of early termination for merchant services providers across the industry.

Contract cancellation

Many processors levy an early contract termination cost. However, this also occurs when an annual fee is charged. Suppose the processor does not charge an early cancellation fee. In that case, they may charge on a month-to-month basis, which is considered preferable to annual contracts if you are just starting with their services.

Charging an early termination charge is an unjust business practice. Some merchant service providers make their cancellation process so difficult that if you wish to cancel, you will be bounced from department to department until you give up and continue to use their services.

Non-cancellable agreements

Leasing POS terminals or payment gateways might be significantly more expensive than purchasing them. Certain processors require you to pay for the entire lease term, rendering the contract non-cancellable. Ultimately, their true cost is many times greater than the cost of purchasing the gateway or processing equipment yourself.

Conclusion

If your company accepts credit and debit card payments, having a thorough understanding of your merchant agreement is critical to your success. As a business owner, you have the authority to select a partner that best meets your requirements and works with you in a transparent and honest way. Review your agreement or contact your merchant services provider to ensure you are making the best decision for your company. To make sure that you are getting the best terms and rates possible, make sure that when you are having these conversations to have read all of the fine print and to address all of your concerns when negotiating.

Coinbase Global, a cryptocurrency exchange provider, recently announced a relationship with Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Google announced that they will accept cryptocurrency payments as part of a new Coinbase partnership. This is a two-way street, with both companies making a significant commitment to the other. Coinbase is also transitioning its cloud-based operations from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Google Cloud. In exchange, Google Cloud and their clients will be enabled to process cryptocurrency payments through Coinbase.

This Google-Coinbase deal is a win-win situation, with the global community of crypto-focused developers benefiting the most. We’re excited to see these two firms take this important step together. Here’s what this means for stakeholders on both sides of the deal.

What Will Google and Coinbase Partnership Entail?

Google’s cloud computing business is critical to its long-term success. The sector is constantly expanding, is very profitable, and enables Google to expand their revenue steams and not just focus on marketing revenue. This agreement with Coinbase enables Google to fill a market gap by allowing crypto companies to pay for cloud storage with digital currency. There are no significant competitors who allow companies to current do this with cryptocurrency.

This is significant because the core idea underlying many Web3 and crypto businesses is a desire to move aside from using fiat currency such as the US dollar. Many of these companies would prefer to use solutions that accept cryptocurrency payments if they had the option, but until now, they simply did not exist on a large enough scale right now.

Will This Partnership Work?

To begin, the offer will be limited between Google and Coinbase and Google intends to provide the service to a limited number of Web3 clients, with payments handled by Coinbase Commerce. This system accepts ten digital currencies, including the usual suspects like Bitcoin cash, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.

As a result, this partnership enables Google to create an offering they currently do not have, which will broaden their consumer base and diversify their revenue streams. Coinbase will charge a percentage of the fees that pass through their platform which will also increase their B2B revenue aside from their typical income from retail trading costs.

Coinbase Commerce works like any other payment provider, such as Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, and even Visa and Mastercard. These networks operate by charging a small fee for processing the transaction. The only difference is that these payments are made in crypto rather than fiat currency.

Why is This Arrangement Significant for Google?

After everything is said and done, Coinbase will have earned a new revenue stream since cryptocurrency-based payments for Google Cloud services will be routed through Coinbase for a fee. Simultaneously, Google Cloud took another step into the world of blockchain ledgers and cryptocurrencies, opening the way for a complete Web 3.0 experience.

This is a significant advancement for Web 3.0 and the future of the internet, and Google deserves credit for pioneering this venture. Google’s conglomerate revenue is fueled by the internet’s first two iterations, beginning with read-only web pages and progressing to social media dialogues. In these well-worn systems, Google assists users in finding the information they need while dually targeting those users with digital advertisements for products and services that are relevant to them.

Web 3.0, if completely achieved, could potentially mark the end of Google’s existing business model. Since blockchain systems are so adaptable, content creators will be able to take direct control of their ideas. Earning money from your articles, videos, games, and other media will be a much easier process. Intermediaries like Google’s AdSense service may eventually have a smaller role in monetizing original ideas, which in turn would affect Google’s primary revenue stream. A new type of Google crypto payments system will certainly emerge out of the Coinbase-Google deal.

How This Partnership Will Impact Future Cryptocurrency?

As part of their new collaboration, both Google and Coinbase have stated that they will consider how they can assist other organizations in managing their crypto portfolios and integrating cryptocurrency into their business models.

This is still a developing industry, but veteran Bitcoiners assume that over time, more and more businesses will hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets. So far, this strategy has been adopted by a small number of very large size corporations.

Traditional finance departments use trusted third parties to hold investments on behalf of a company. Companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, have billions of dollars in cash available at any given time, which is stored in accounts with central banks such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America.

The problem for these businesses is determining how to store their assets. Businesses can trust that their assets and cash is safe because the aforementioned banking organizations are highly regulated. However with crypto, things become a little more complicated.

Digital currencies are, by definition, decentralized. This means there is so single entity or trustworthy party that is needed to support the transaction, and asset safety is solely the holder’s responsibility. There is a big potential to add a reliable third party into crypto storage, asset management and processing, similar to the deficit in payment processing that Google is trying to fill. It’s ironic, given that Bitcoin was invented to avoid exactly that. It is also very interesting that Coinbase already provides a very similar service through a program called Coinbase Prime, however they are trying to expand this with this new Google Partnership.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, tech giants are becoming more interested in blockchain and Web3.0. Last year, Facebook rebranded itself Meta to capitalize on the benefits of the metaverse and offer the Facebook product under an umbrella with other tech products. They have even introduced the NFT capability to Facebook users. Microsoft is developing a decentralized data warehouse to further their Web 3.0 efforts. And now, Google and Coinbase have joined hands. The movement to adopt new technology is continuing at a rapid pace and is being implemented more frequently as it becomes more widely available.

The news that Google will accept cryptocurrency will be welcomed by small businesses and organizations. Many merchants and individual’s had invested in crypto during the last few years, during the pandemic. When Google begins to accept cryptocurrency, it will not only increase different coins value helping individuals, but it will enable businesses to utilize crypto for certain segments of their operation.

Small businesses make up the majority of the US economy. They generate a large amount of taxes for the government and also heavily contribute to the overall economic GDP. Unfortunately, in the crypto space, they have been ignored up until now. As Google will accept cryptocurrency after this announcement, even smaller merchants can benefit. The biggest challenge small business face is cash flow and revenue generation. With Google now accepting crypto payments from merchants and individuals, they are paving the way for digital currencies payment systems to be adopted by other large companies.