Cash Vs. Credit Card Usage Statistics 2022

For the longest time, cash has been the reigning and most popular payment method for people all over the world, but this is rapidly changing. The adoption of cashless societies and virtual forms of payment is going up, an evolution that has probably been sped up by our experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic.

While cash is still fairly popular in the U.S., it’s quickly losing ground to debit cards and even credit cards. And there are a lot of interesting conclusions we can draw from the data surrounding the usage of these payment methods.

In this article, we’ll go over the statistics for credit, debit, and cash payments and general use, as well as discuss what we can glean from these numbers.

Credit Card Vs. Cash: Which Is More Popular?

Normally, cash reigns above all when it comes to popular forms of payment, but this is quickly changing. For the first time since the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice started to report in 2016, credit card payments surpassed cash payments during the year 2020. Cash payments went down 7% from 26% to 19% between 2019 and 2020, a decline which can most likely be attributed to the pandemic.

Credit card payments, on the other hand, rose from 24% to 27% of all payments within the same time period.

However, the most used form of payment was actually debit cards, with 28% of all payments made using this medium. Debit cards accounted for 10 of the 35 payments made on average every month.

It’s important to note that these numbers were affected by the pandemic in more ways than one. Not only was cash far more complicated to use during this time, but also only shopping rose due to the social distancing and isolation measures, and the number of payments made overall decreased.

Statistics for Credit, Debit, and Cash Payment Usage

Here’s some data regarding the use of debit cards, credit cards, cash, and their preference:

In general, 80% prefer to pay with cards over cash.
76% of all Americans have at least one card, and the average credit card holder has at least 3.
The average transaction with cash is $22, and without cash, it’s $112.
The average transaction with credit cards was $57.
Debit cards are used for 67% of card payments, and 28% of all payments.
Cash is more frequently used in low-income households, with 47% of all transactions being made with cash in households with less than $25,000 a year.
The total value of money spent went up from $4,236 to $4,760 in 2020.
Only 10% of people use only cash, but at least 88% of consumers use cash occasionally.
The average person held $74 in cash in their pockets, wallet, or purse during 2020 (up $20 from 2019)
The average person uses 3 to 4 payment methods each month, with more than 90% of households using more than one payment method.
52% of all active credit cards carried a balance during 2021, and as of the fourth quarter of that year credit card debt was standing at $856 billion.
Card payments are going up in frequency and quantity
In-person payments decreased by 7% from 87% to 80% between 2019 to 2020, while not-in-person payments went up from 13% to 20%.
Only 72% of people surveyed reported making an in-person payment within 3 days of the survey, down from 91% in 2019.
ATM withdrawals are going down in number, but the amount withdrawn each time is increasing.
45% of people prefer to store their card information online for future purchases.
38% of card users mentioned the reason they prefer cards is their convenience of use when compared to cash. However, 51% of them said that the high-interest rates of credit cards are a significant drawback.
Overall, people aged 65 and older account for the highest amount of cash usage, with 26% of them making their payments in cash. By contrast, people aged 25 to 34 only make 11% of their payments in cash.

What the Data Tell Us

There’s a lot we can infer and learn from the statistics seen in these reports. For starters, the pandemic has significantly changed our relationship with money and the way we make our payments

While in-person and cash payments have historically been preferred, virtual payments and payments made with cards went up significantly during 2020. However, given that this was the result of strict social distancing and isolation measures driven by efforts to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, it remains to be seen if this will result in long-term change.

But even if that hadn’t been the case, the truth is that cash has been going down in recent years in favor of debit card and credit card payments.

Cash was behind debit and credit cards for all age groups except those aged 65 and older, with younger generations preferring to use debit cards.

In general, debit cards seem to be replacing physical cash as the preferred form of payment. According to the report, people that prefer cash used their debit cards as backup twice as much as they used their credit cards.

Cash in general seems to be preferred for smaller transactions, with the majority of payments under $10 being in cash. For payments between $10 and $100, credit cards and debit cards make up about 60% of the payment share.

And while the number of payments went down overall, their average transaction size increased significantly. The average person spent $326 during October of 2020 in non-bill payments, up from $265 in 2019.

Final Thoughts

Credit card and debit card spending is going up, and cash is on its way down. This is not surprising given the recent economic turmoil, the challenges presented by the pandemic, and the increased popularity of online shopping.

However, it remains to be seen if the changes will stick, as one of the main factors for the switch in popularity from cash and in-person payments to cards and virtual payments was the pandemic.

Terra LUNA Crash – A Nightmare for Crypto Investors

Why Terra LUNA is going Down?

Will Terra LUNA Recover?

These are the two most common questions people are talking about in the crypto community. It’s not the first time that a cryptocurrency has crashed so badly. But Luna’s case is a bit different.

Luna Was Supposed to Be a Fundamentally Strong Project

Crypto is an unregulated market where the risks of scams are too high. Over the years, many inexperienced investors have lost millions of dollars by investing in different crypto projects without knowing any details.

Luna, on the other hand, had a community of experienced investors who invest their money after some research. A week ago LUNA was ranked among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap. But now, it has collapsed and it’s not even worth a penny anymore.

The investors have lost billions of dollars within a few days and some anecdotal reports of self-harm are reported because people had invested their life savings in this project. Some people claim that it was an organized scam planned over a long time while others believe that the company itself got scammed by a group of people.

How did Terra Luna Work?

Terra introduced the concept of algorithmic stablecoins where the value of a coin is kept constant through another crypto token and smart contracts. TerraUSD (UST) was the stablecoin of Terra that was pegged at $1. The value of UST was maintained by burning LUNA tokens.

Other stablecoins like USDT, BUSD, and DAI are backed by physical assets that can be used as collateral. But UST was a more decentralized solution as it was backed by another cryptocurrency called LUNA.

The price of UST was pegged at $1. So, the arbitrageurs helped with maintaining the value. The arbitrageurs used to buy the UST tokens whenever its price dropped below $1. And they used to convert their UST tokens into LUNA tokens whenever the UST’s price raised above $1.

So, if the UST’s price is at $1, the arbitrageur needs to burn $100 worth of LUNA tokens to mint 100 UST tokens but if the UST’s price is at $0.98, the arbitrageur can get 100 UST tokens by burning $98 worth of LUNA tokens. And they can convert the UST into LUNA once the UST’s price is at $1.

Thus, they can generate a $2 profit from this trade. And the profit may increase depending on the size of the trade. Similarly, the arbitrageurs could mint LUNA tokens by burning UST if the UST’s price is above $1.

We invite you to read our detailed guide about Terra LUNA if you need more information about how Terra Luna Worked.

How Terra Luna Became Popular?

Introducing an algorithmic stablecoin was a major reason why Terra became popular. It enabled users to transfer funds globally with a very reasonable fee. It worked as a bridge between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies allowing users to buy/sell cryptocurrencies smoothly.

Furthermore, it was the second most popular smart contract building platform after Ethereum. The users could generate smart contracts on this platform by burning Luna Tokens. Similarly, the developers could build apps and other tokens on this network.

Why did Terra LUNA Token Crash?

UST had a total market cap of $15-16 billion before it all began. At the beginning of the week, around $2 billion worth of UST tokens were unstaked from the network and they were immediately sold in the market due to which the UST was depegged and its price dropped $0.90-$0.91 cent.

The arbitrageurs started taking advantage of the opportunity by converting their UST tokens into Luna to generate some profits. It ultimately created panic leading to a mass selling of UST tokens. The problem is that the users could only burn $100 million worth of UST for Luna tokens per day.

So, the holders started exchanging UST for other stablecoins because there wasn’t any other solution. The company started selling its reserve of Bitcoin to stabilize the UST token but it couldn’t support the sell-off. The Luna token holders also panicked when they saw such a huge decline in the price of the stablecoin.

The organization also minted a huge amount of LUNA tokens to protect the value of their Stablecoin (UST). But it didn’t work and created a gap between supply and demand due to which the price of LUNA token declined even further. And the Luna token that was trading at $85 at the beginning of the week is not even worth a penny anymore.

Who Caused the Terra LUNA Token Crash?

Some people claim that a group of people intentionally played this trick to manipulate the price of Bitcoin. Terra organization had a huge amount of Bitcoin reserves that they intended to use to stabilize the UST token. The manipulators knew that the organization will sell its Bitcoin reserves to tackle the huge sell-off. But these are just claims and there isn’t any solid evidence.

However, it’s one of the major reasons why Bitcoin’s price declined during this week.

When will LUNA Recover?

Do Kwon, the founder of Terra Foundation, has announced that they’re working on fixing this issue and they’ve requested the holders to be patient. But the miners have agreed upon halting the operations of the Terra network to prevent the governance attacks. The withdrawal requests are also stopped by several exchanges to handle this situation.

According to the current situation, the Luna token may take some time to recover.

Conclusion

LUNA token was one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies almost a week ago but it’s not even worth a penny anymore. It was best known for its algorithmic stablecoin UST (TerraUSD). But the stablecoin has also lost its value in the current situation. The Terra Organization is trying to resolve the problem. So, many investors are still hopeful that it may recover over time.

But at the same time, it’s quite alarming for those who have invested in other crypto projects.

US Credit Card Usage and Credit Card Debt Statistics in 2022

Credit cards are designed to get us to spend as much as we want. With an easy “swipe now, worry later” approach, your credit card debt can easily get out of hand if you don’t keep track of your spending. And apparently, that’s what happened to the American people in these last few years.

In 2022, the total credit card debt of Americans is humongous, but what is the full picture?

In this article, we’ll go over the credit card statistics for debt, usage, and more for the last two quarters of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. We’ll take a look at how much is owed, how many accounts carry a balance, and other interesting credit card debt statistics.

How Much Credit Card Debt Is Owed by Americans?

According to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the total balance for credit card debt ascended to $856 billion in the final quarter of 2021. That’s a stunning number on its own, but its impact is made more apparent when compared to the third quarter, where the debt was at $804 billion. That means that in the span of about 3 months, credit card debt rose by $52 billion.

That’s the largest increase seen between quarters in the entire 22-year history of the report, as well as the third quarter in a row that the debt has increased. Overall, 2021 saw the largest increase in nominal debt since 2007.

The results are not unsurprising considering this comes a year after the pandemic, but they are still worrying. However, the debt is actually lower than its historical highest point, which was $927 billion during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Given the recent economic downturn, it’s likely that the first quarter of 2022 sees even higher numbers.

How Many Accounts Carry a Balance?

52% of all active credit card accounts carried a balance during the third quarter of 2021, according to a report from the American Bankers Association. If we take a look at all accounts, active or not, the number falls to 40% for the same time period. 36% of the active accounts didn’t carry a balance, and 24% were considered dormant.

The data paints a troublesome scenario. With credit cards, the goal is to pay the balance in full every month to avoid the high-interest rates and fees. However, understandably not everyone is able to do so every time.

Still, the fact that more than half of the active accounts are currently failing to meet that goal means that most people are currently unable to pay their bills in full. And with credit cards, that just means creating a cycle of debt that only deepens due to the interest rates.

And yet, only a tiny fraction of all the credit cards have delinquent balances of at least 30 days. Only 1.62% of all accounts have balances that are at least 30 days old. That’s slightly higher than the number seen in April of 2021, when it was just 1.54%. While the percentage increase, numbers are still lower than they have ever been since the reporting started, and far off from the 7% seen during 2009.

What’s the Average Interest Rate?

For the first quarter of 2022, the average APR of all credit cards was 14.56%, which was slightly higher than the 14.51% seen during the fourth quarter of 2021. For credit cards that accrued interest, the average APR was 16.17% during 2022, which was lower than the 17.13% and 16.44 seen during the third and fourth quarters of 2021.

The 17.13% average seen during Q3 2021 was the second-highest average reported by the Federal Reserve since 1994.

However, for new credit card offers the APR is a lot higher, sitting at 19.68% on average. Credit card offerings currently have a variable APR range of 16.11% to 23.25%, depending on several factors such as your credit and account standing. Given the announcement from the Federal Reserve of a rise in interest rates, expect your credit card’s APR to rise in the coming months.

How Is the Credit Card Usage Divided Among Lenders?

According to data gathered by Nilson Report in 2022, the volume of all purchases made during 2021 with credit cards from the top seven lenders was divided in the following way:

Chase Bank: $950 billion
American Express: $868 billion
Citi Bank: $483 billion
Capital One Bank: $455 billion
Bank of America: $414 billion
Discover: $182 billion
U.S. Bank: $166 billion

The total purchase volume generated by them was $3.517 trillion, up 25.6% from the previous year.

Interesting Credit Card Debt Statistics

There are a lot of interesting numbers to see in the latest reports from the Federal Reserve and Credit Card lenders. Here are some statistics on credit card use in the United States:

The average American has 3 credit cards, and 83% of all adults have at least one card.
There are 531.540 million credit cards in the U.S.
When divided by race, the amount of adults that have credit cards is 87% for White Americans, 92% for Asian Americans, 72% for African Americans, and 76% for Hispanic Americans
The baby boomer generation has the highest average number of cards at 5, while Gen Z has the lowest at 1.7.
People with incomes lower than $100,000 are more likely to carry a balance from month to month.
The average debt is $8,590 per household as of the fourth quarter of 2021.
The average minimum payment due for the average credit card monthly bill is $110.50.
The average debt of Americans within the 90^th to 100^th annual income percentile was $12,600
Credit card debt was the most common type of debt during 2019, with more than 45% of families reporting debt after their last payment.
The use of credit cards for payments increased from 24% to 27% between 2019 and 2020.
Alaska has the highest overall credit card balances, which are 30.9% higher than the average, while Iowa has the lowest balances at 17% lower than average.
Gen Z is reported to be turned down twice as much as any other generation when applying for their first credit card twice, with 27% saying they were rejected upon application.

Final Thoughts

While lower than its 2019 historical record, credit card debt is still overall at a very high point. On top of that, more than half of the Americans with active cards are currently unable to pay off their full balances each month.

Given the hikes in interest rates and the general economic situation we are experiencing, these numbers are likely to increase. However, there is a silver lining. In general, delinquency is at one of its lowest points since credit card debt reporting started.

Apple Announced Tap to Pay on iPhone

Apple has recently announced its plans to launch the all-new ‘Tap to Pay’ feature on the iPhone platform. The revolutionary ‘Tap to Pay’ feature for iPhone will be helpful in turning the device into a contactless terminal for accepting payments.

As per the reports of Apple, during the later part of year, the merchants in the United States will be capable of accepting Apple Pay along with other contactless forms of payments. This feature will include Google Pay acceptance as well. All such contactless payments will be accepted with the help of iPhone and a third-party partner iOS app.

Understanding the ‘Tap to Pay’ Feature

The Tap to Pay feature will be enabled for relatively recent iPhone models like iPhone XS and later. Tap to Pay on iPhone devices will be made available to app developers and payment platforms to integrate into iOS apps as a leading payment option. For instance, Stripe will be one of the first payment platforms that will offer Tap to Pay on iOS devices to its customers with the help of the all-new Shopify app. Apple adds that additional payment applications and platforms will also follow at a later point in the year.

Once the functionality of Tap to Pay has been launched, merchants will be capable of unlocking the capability of contactless payment acceptance with supporting iOS applications. During the checkout process, merchants will ask customers to hold their Apple Watch or iPhone near the iPhone of the merchant. The payment will then be completed in a secure fashion with the help of the NFC technology. The best part is that there is no requirement for any additional hardware to accept contactless payments.

Apple also revealed that with the Tap to Pay on iPhone, payment data for customers remains protected throughout. All transactions in the process are made with the help of secure encryption.

Apple and Tap to Pay Feature

The tech giant revealed that Apple Pay has already been accepted by over 90 percent of retailers across the United States. As such, the all-new capability of the Tap to Pay feature by Apple will enable customers to experience seamless check-out processes. Tap to Pay on iPhone will also be rolling out on subsequent locations of the Apple Store in the United States at a later date in 2022. Apple plans of working closely with app developers and payment platforms to release the Tap to Pay solution on iPhone to merchants across the country. Tap to Pay by Apple will work in collaboration with contactless debit cards and credit cards from different payment networks – including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

Jennifer Bailey, Vice President at Apple for Apple Pay & Apple Wallet, said in a statement that as more consumers continue tapping to make payments with credit cards and digital wallets, the feature of Tap to Pay on iPhone will offer businesses a private, easy, and secure way to accept contactless payments. It will also help the customer experience with the overall convenience, security, and power of the iPhone. Apple adds that Tap to Pay feature will be made available only to participating payment platforms. It will also be available for app developers and partners in the upcoming iOS software beta.

Understanding the Working of Apple Tap to Pay

Apple Tap to Pay will enable users to make use of mobile phones as secure payment terminals. It is believed that the acquisition of the startup Mobeewave is the foundation for the all-new technology.

The feature will support payments from Apple Pay, contactless debit & credit cards, and subsequent digital wallets. Previously businesses that accepted contactless payments on iPhone were expected to use third-party hardware like Square Reader dongle.

Currently, the feature of Tap to Pay on iPhone will be limited to merchants and businesses that would like to accept contactless payments with the help of supported iOS apps on iPhone XS and later models. Apple has stated that all merchants will require iPhones to accept as well as process payments.

Businesses Supporting Tap to Pay on iPhone

Stripe announced that it will be the first company to offer the Tap to Pay functionality on iPhone to business customers. It will also include the Shopify POS or Point of Sale app during spring 2022.

In April 2022, Adyen, a leading Dutch payment processing firm, was also added to the compatible list. Additional payment apps and platforms will be following in the coming year as per the reports from Apple. Apple Stores in the United States will also be rolling out the feature very soon.

Tap to Pay by Apple will be introduced in the United States later on in the 2022. It will be an exclusive feature to the US at launch. There has been no announcement made regarding any other country. While the feature of Tap to Pay is not available for immediate use, the supporting API will be made available in iOS 15.4 to enable the feature on the iPhone XS models and later.

Top Growth Hacking Strategies for Startups in 2022

It does not matter what industry you are in; having the right growth hacking and marketing strategy can greatly accelerate your business plan. The key to growth hacking is documentation, and you have to track down everything that works and everything that does not work before you can settle on a game plan.

Overall, marketing in today’s landscape is not short of challenges. With new startups emerging every day, it is integral for businesses to formulate growth and marketing strategies that tailor to their needs. The 21^st century’s sudden rise in competition makes it difficult for people to compete for consumers’ attention.

From a consumer standpoint, the marketplace in 2022 is fueled with countless choices and variety. Advertisers are present at all avenues, and indecisiveness is high. Thus, startups need to have solid growth hacking strategies to compete with the already-existing successful businesses in their sector.

The early phases of a business are usually tough and slow. Accelerating and quickly developing into a lucrative business may sound too good to be true. However, with the right roadmap and implementation, it has been possible for many startups to get the cash rolling much more quickly. Below are some growth hacking strategies and tips for startups in 2022.

Make Your Business Sharable

Scalable solutions will always revolve around how well you can get people to talk about your business. Creating potential customers will ultimately come down to creating a talking point that engages the audience. This talking point or message should then revolve around different channels to audiences larger and further away from your perimeters.

You need to set market automation procedures once you can incorporate a talking point or a compelling brand identity that grabs attention. A highly efficient growth hacking framework does not require labor-intensive work or additional human intervention.

Having an online presence is important, but it is also critical to ensure that your content is automatically shared with all social media outlets. Furthermore, having an effective payment API can be critical for startups as it eases online business accessibility for remote buyers.

Many online platforms offer connectivity options that help sync content. If you optimize written content to drive more traffic, backlinking strategies can be pivotal for success. It is also important to be diverse in the type of content you put out if you want to make your business sharable.

Leverage from Video Marketing

Dividing your content between video, audio, and written material increases your odds of creating a potential customer base. However, it is important to focus the majority of your content on a video format in today’s world. Video consumption has doubled in the last four years, and about 90% or more marketers today rely heavily on video content. Moreover, studies also show that video content is critical since it draws the most engagement from the audience.

Email List Building

This strategy can be incredible if you want to reach out to more customers and figure out your specialized consumer base. If you can form a solid list, you can potentially generate plenty of revenue. Lists should also not remain stagnant, and you should always be looking to add more prospective buyers.

The list being talked about here is one where your email subscribers exist. Creating an email list in the earliest phases of your business will require you to tailor your landing page in a particular way. A landing page should be appealing and engaging for the audience members, invoking them to share their email accounts and join the mailing list.

Techniques to provoke action from the audience members on your landing page require you to create a sense of urgency on the website. In most cases, they make people think that people will miss out on a great opportunity if they do not enter the mailing list.

Provide Support Options

Real-time chat support and customer service are things that startups can leverage when competing with bigger organizations. As organizations start to get bigger and their customer base expands, they fail to provide personalized help to consumers. This is usually because their support options are not vast enough to accommodate their increasing consumer base.

However, since startups in the beginning phase have a limited consumer base, they can add more competitive value to their services by focusing on customer service. After you have successfully conveyed the information about your product to the consumers, provide them with information about the amazing benefits they will get after signing up with your business.

Your customer service staff should be ready to guide the customers throughout. Incorporating a clear-cut live chat system into your business can be highly advantageous. It would help if you were also willing to provide live assistance to the customers so that they do not encounter any hurdles when trying to navigate your business model. Businesses can also integrate POS systems to enhance their customer service.

Keep in mind that consumers will usually lose interest in a startup faster than they will lose interest in a renowned business. This is because they already enter into the business with a skeptical thought process and uncertainties since new businesses do not have enough reviews and testimonials to solidify their worth. For this reason, it is important to make the customer experience better than the rest.

Invest in Referral Marketing

Marketers will usually tell you how important referral marketing is since many of them have managed to produce astronomical numbers simply with the help of referral marketing. Therefore, referrals can be a very effective growth hacking strategy for promotions. Research shows that referral from a trusted person is the most effective marketing strategy. It is also important to note that enjoying the benefits of referrals will come hand in hand with good customer service.

Final Thoughts

Contrary to popular opinion, startups at the very early stages of their career do not need to spend countless money on paid promotions. Instead, smart growth hacking tactics can be enough to get their business up and running.

How to Grow Your E-Commerce Brand in 2022?

Growing your eCommerce business in 2022 will require you to take plenty of considerations into every step you take. This is largely because 2022 is a year that is not short of any challenges for E-commerce businesses, especially when you consider the current inflation and the supply chain crises. Below are tips that will be essential when moving forward with your E-commerce business in 2022.

Limited Supply

Many have experienced the supply chain issues that have spiraled out of control in 2022. Businesses have also had to face their inventories get stuck on the loading dock or the ocean. Treating it simply as a temporary lay-off may not be the best option. However, there is a different way to approach this situation.

Instead of trying to serve the entire market place, limited supply is now serving limited people. Businesses need to be crystal clear about who their customer is, and what transformation they are taking to buy your product. In other words, having a very limited supply available will bring marketing attention and also solve your supply chain challenges.

Limited supply strategies will have people buying products simply because they need to be first. There is also a secondary market created because there is so much scarcity around the products. The businesses that win in the next round of entrepreneurship will have scarcity built into their business models.

Only a few people can win the mass market game on online platforms. There can also only be a few top selling products. However, if businesses have a limited supply product and they differentiate it from what everyone else is doing in the marketplace, then they can sell out every single time.

Moreover, in 2022, limited supply can also be a big part of your marketing. You have to absolutely be committed to what the customer wants. With a limited supply marketing strategy, the primary aim for E-commerce businesses become creating the best and most premium product for the customer and not a cost-effective basic product for the masses. If this works, customers will be edging to click on the buy button regardless of how expensive your product is.

Know About Your Ideal Client

Oftentimes business owners will make the mistake of not doing the necessary homework before they can start marketing their product. This is because they end up thinking that this is a non-essential task, and wish not to spend too much time on it. Skipping this would include skipping a fundamental step in your business.

Identifying your ideal clients is a must, and targeting the potential buyers is critical. If you do not do that, you will end up getting a poor response rate. E-commerce marketers spend plenty of time evaluating target audience so that they can help businesses reach out to customers that will buy from them.

Ideal clients will be willing to invest in a particular business even during a recession. To approach the ideal clients, it is best to think about your business and the values that it displays, and then decide on the type of people that will be able to resonate to those values. It is also important to find out about their goals.

Answering all these questions regarding the target audience can help E-commerce businesses in the long term, pertaining to their marketing. Having a keen idea about the ideal clients can help business leaders create a marketing strategy that aims directly at the target audience.

It also makes it easy for businesses to decide the type of content they need to focus on. In other words, being aware of the ideal customer will help you tailor your marketing strategies around them. It is important to ask why they are buying the product in the first place.

After business owners understand the key motive behind the customer’s interest in the product, they can use the information to shape the type of content on social media. Promoting this type of content will therefore attract potential buyers towards your business. Overall, sharing content that is goal oriented helps E-commerce will help formulate an effective marketing strategy.

Creating an Irresistible Offer

In 2022, convincing people to invest in your business can be very difficult. Due to the economic backlash and supply chain issues, many buyers are starting to get very careful with their money and expenditures. For this reason, one of the keys to success for an E-commerce business in 2022 will have to do with the offer.

Businesses need to focus on creating an offer that makes it very difficult for customers to deny. Applying an irresistible offer requires businesses to figure out the concerns that customers have with purchasing their products online, and then implementing an offer that addresses the concern and leaves no room for any further questions.

Under-promise and Over-deliver

This is how e-commerce businesses can create an enormous fan base. Many businesses have applied this strategy. Surprising the client and putting some extra resources into the packaging helps make sure that your product surprises the customer. This helps invoke a good feeling into the customer’s heart when they open the packaging.

If your packaging is impressive and the customer is not expecting it, then it will start to reaffirm their investment into this product. It will share the idea in their minds that this is a premium product. If they open it and it has some detailed design and amenities which add value to the product, then the customer will feel overwhelmed since they received something extra which was not anticipated.

Providing more than what you promise will lead to an increased customer satisfaction and produce loyal customers. This will also be pivotal for a business’s marketing strategy. This is because customers will usually take pictures of the products and post them on social media as a token of appreciation. For an E-commerce business, this is free marketing that they can leverage from.

Final Thoughts

Ecommerce businesses are going to dominate the retail space moving toward. They are also going to integrate new technologies and trends. For any startup or business in this space, it is critical to stay ahead of all the advancements and technology to secure a fruitful future in this industry.

What is DeFi? DeFi Trends for 2022

DeFi is short for decentralized finance, and this is an umbrella term for financial services that operate on a public blockchain. A blockchain refers to an interconnected layered network for the exchange of digital currencies decentralized data. This network powers autonomous and untraceable transactions between two parties.

Every transaction that you make on the blockchain follows a randomized path in which the data travels across hundreds of different electronic devices before reaching the recipient. The primary blockchain that powers most financial operations in the crypto space today is the Ethereum blockchain.

What is DeFi?

With DeFi or decentralized finance, users can do most of the things that bank’s support. Users can borrow land, earn interest, trade, and carry out other financial operations using decentralized finance. Overall, DeFi is not so different to traditional market in terms of financial operations. However, when drawing a contrast between decentralized finance and the conventional centralized finance, many differences can emerge.

DeFi vs CeFi

Decentralized finance in comparison to centralized finance is much faster. Moreover, it does not require users to fill out any paperwork and documentation before any financial procedures. These aspects of DeFi make it a more convenient option against centralized finance. Transactions in a decentralized finance settings are peer-to-peer, and do not require a third party that conducts to overlook and supervise.

The lack of a governing third party is the key difference of decentralized finance, and this is also what contributes to this system being faster, and cheaper. Since there is no existence of a third party, user are not subject to hefty fees and documentation.

Transactions through DeFi systems are anonymous and global. It is also open to everyone that has access to the internet. Unlike centralized finance, these transactions are not overlooked by a third party and do not abide to private policies and documented legislations.

Instead, they are contractually enclosed to a particular algorithm that will function autonomously without any unexpected changes. In this transaction, the code dictates the nature of the exchange. There is an emergent need for decentralized networks and many things make this transaction important.

Why is DeFi Important?

Decentralized finance takes the premise of digital currency and then expands on it to create an entire digital alternative to financial institutions. It rids users from all the associated costs that giant financial institutions will mostly charge people for financial services.

This has the potential to help manifest a market that is open, fair and accessible to anyone that has an internet connection. It has great benefits that many users have learnt to leverage from it lucratively.

Benefits

For one, decentralize finance allows users to stay anonymous. This means that you do not have to provide your name or any personal details. This allows users to protect their personal information and not become subject to control. It allows people to maintain their privacy when carrying out financial operations.

It is also very versatile as it allows users to easily transfer and receive assets anywhere. In contrast, when trying to carry out transactions across different countries using conventional means, you have to first ask for permission, pay extra fees for international transfer, fill out paperwork to provide the details of the transaction, and also wait for a long time for asset to travel to the receiving end.

DeFi or decentralized finance on the other hand is completely open and does not require any painstaking procedures before you make the asset transaction. It also does not require users to fill out paperwork or provide personal details. All you have to do is open an account and get access after making your digital wallet.

It is also very fast in contrast to conventional banking systems. Interest rates and rewards on a DeFi system will often update more rapidly than conventional banking systems and also within seconds. Therefore, decentralized finance is open, anonymous and fast, and getting involved in it will require users to use Dapps.

Decentralized Applications

Dapps are interfaces and platforms that provide users with the access to the blockchain services. Most of the Dapps run on the ethereum blockchain. To get involved in these applications, you have to first set up a crypto wallet in your browser. It is best to set up a browser that supports Ethereum and can also connect to different DeFi protocols.

DeFi Trends 2022

P2E Games

The first type of trend emerging in the DeFi space is P2E games. This refers to the play to earn games, in which you can play to earn money. One of the popular play-to-earn games in this space is called Crabada. Games such as these are very attractive and addictive for users. When you add a monetary gain to already addictive games, the sector of P2E games will undoubtedly increase.

Liquidity Pools

Another trend revolves around liquidity pools and nodes. Farming as a service is also a Defi trend that many people like. This is essentially when you purchase tokens and get paid out in reflections. The investment gets put into a treasury balance which then gets into a wallet address, which then allows lead farmers to make profit with the treasury.

DAO

Another trend that came about in this space takes shape in the form of DAO. There will be many DAOs that are transitioning this year and transition to them will be more sustainable for the users. Not to mention, there is great utility behind a DAO.

Yield Farming

Yield farming is another DeFi trend that you should look out for. In this, users have a way of earning passive incomes simply by staking a portion of their investments as collateral. This investment acts as lenders money for people looking to borrow.

Final Words

DeFi technology can single handed revolutionize the modern banking system and help users be more careful and secure with their money. Decentralized finance has multiple other use-cases instead of banking, and it can add a just and efficient system to any conventional system.

Restaurant Business, Payment, and Technology Trends for Summer 2022

The restaurant industry has normally been slow when it comes to the adoption of technology and innovative solutions. The Covid-19 pandemic however sparked a change in many industries including food and beverages. It forced food and beverage outlets to look beyond traditional settings and move towards a digitized way of working.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted businesses and the restaurant industry was hit hard due to lockdown restrictions. Since some restaurants only offered a brick and mortar service, they also had to close down. This disruption by the pandemic however has also encouraged many restaurant businesses to make changes to how they operate so that they can accommodate the world of today.

Hybrid Situation for Restaurants to Stay in 2022

There is a permanent change emerging in consumer behavior, which will continue to shape the restaurant business and trends throughout the summer this year. The longevity of the hybrid work situation was underestimated.

Remote and hybrid work situations are causing people to stay at home more often, and this is leading to a change in consumption patterns due to which many people now prefer eating at home and not inside restaurants.

The shorter term valuable comes from the cost. The cost of eating at home versus the cost of eating at a restaurant now significantly varies. People have now initially seen the cost of eating away from home spike. The value equation between eating at home and eating at a restaurant will also be something important to consider over the next year or two. Overall, the digitally transformative hybrid situation is here to stay and restaurants need to look at this from multiple aspects

Online Ordering, Delivery Applications, and Contactless Payments

As restaurants remain a victim to restrictions and closures in the post pandemic world, online deliveries and orders have been pivotal for their survival. This is why online ordering and payment platforms are now become a necessity for restaurants that want to flourish. Another trend that has manifesting out of the newfound sanitary requirement is contactless payment, and this will likely continue for summer 2022.

Contactless technologies are set to go mainstream. They are also not only about placing online order, but also being able to pay through a variety of different means. For instance, Restaurants are now opening their payment process to accommodate accessibility in payment. This allows users to pay with their smart watch, application, touchless devices and more.

These payment technologies are gradually gaining momentum in the industry, however, the trend seems to accelerate even more after the pandemic. Due to its convenience and ease, people have now become accustomed to this type of payment method. 2022 is the year in which restaurants will be willing to integrate contactless payment methods simply because of the people’s preference.

Online Table Reservations

Booking a table with the help of a phone call is now becoming outdated. As online table reservation technology becomes more significant, restaurants are now able to manage table bookings more efficiently. Using technology and automated reservation systems, restaurants can help sort out the tables according to each customer’s preferences, loyalty and more.

Kitchen Display Systems (KDS)

Kitchen display systems are an alternative to printed tickets. They digitize the menu board for staff members, and they are essential for restaurants to streamline their backend operations. They also directly connect to the point of sale system.

These systems do not only display orders automatically according to priority, it also monitors inventory for out of stick products, and tracks down delivery times. Overall, this technological advancement of the restaurant industry also paves the way for a better communication and transparency between kitchen staff and restaurant members.

Automated Inventory Management

Automation has been the name of the game in 2022. Technologies of today require minimal human intervention and businesses are utilizing these types of advancements, and leveraging from them to grow as a successful business.

Automating inventory allows restaurants to keep track of their food items and beverages. It also means that they can make the order scheduling process much more streamlined and smooth. More importantly, the implementation of this type of software during your process will help you get rid of food wastage.

QR Codes

QR codes are slowly becoming a quintessential aspect of a modern restaurant. In 2020, the trend for QR code technology is set to expand and move over different implications. It is most commonly used to open a display menu for individuals. In this contactless era, auto scanning barcodes will be found on doors, tables and posters.

Scanning this code will allow customers to open the menus, order food, and pay without contact. This helps keep the customers and employees safe. This technology also helps restaurants offer convenient benefits and discounts to the customers. Overall, this restaurant technology will be a must in 2021 due to countless benefits it provides restaurants.

Air Purification Technology

As people return to restaurants, you need to realize that they are still hesitant to be at an indoor space and also in close proximity to other people. This means that it is critical for restaurants to make the diners feel safe in their indoor setting.

To do this, integrating a highly specialized sanitation system can increase the overall appeal of your restaurant. Moreover, restaurants can also implement various air purification strategies that help promote clean air.

Sanitation and air purification has now become an integral task for restaurants around the world. Technology presents unique solutions for restaurants to take advantage of the emerging trends and stay ahead of the curve. Overall, technologies that perpetuate a sense of cleanliness will make customers feel safe and they will eventually prioritize the restaurant in which they are more comfortable to dine.

Final Thoughts

Restaurant owners need to integrate technology to their business operations if they want it to flourish in 2022. It will not only make the restaurant more appealing and safe in the eyes of the consumer, but also help them manage the restaurant more efficiently.

Top Predictions about What’s Next for Crypto in 2022

2021 was a spiraling chaotic year for the crypto currency sector, and many people are wondering what the future holds in 2022. Predictions about Crypto have come pouring in for 2022. While some are saying that this year will be incredible for crypto, others believe that dark times may be ahead.

Kraken intelligence released a report in 2021 about Crypto in review which revealed a constant uptrend with things such as adoption metrics. Another thing that was key was an enormous proliferation of new applications and services on smart contract platforms.

There has also been a tremendous growth on DeFi where you have billions of dollars locked in collateral. Trends for digital assets such as NFTs came about and people started to engage in digital art networks. Even if the pricing seems choppy and volatile, all underlying signals are continuing to trend positively.

Nations to Adopt Digital Currency (CDBC)

Experts predict that more countries will launch their central bank cryptocurrencies or CBDCs. This prediction pertains to retails CDBC which regular people will use. It will not concern the wholesale CDBCs that only select individuals will use. Only two countries so far have successfully launched retail CDBCs.

The first was the Bahamas, where the Sand dollar launched in October 2020, and the second is Nigeria, whose coin e-nira was launched in October 2021. According to the CDBC tracker, many companies including China, Ghana, Uruguay, and a handful of Caribbean islands are currently in the pilot phase of development.

Even though it is not certain whether these countries will complete their CDBC pilots by the end of 2022, China is set to launch their upcoming digital Yuan for 2022 by the end of their 2022 Winter Olympics. What all the countries have in common is that they are relatively small and partially dependant on the US dollar.

The record inflation which came with the dollar has only accelerated the development of central bank digital currency around the globe. This is largely due to countries seeking to get more control of their wealth. When compared to Fiat currency, CDBCs give central banks the power to both, create and destroy the currency circulation.

Theoretically, this power allows the central banks to keep hold of inflation in a much better way. However, this benefit comes with a trade off, which is that it gives the central bank control of everyone’s bank balance. This is something that people in the decentralized sector would deny for more reasons that you might imagine.

This also raises questions on the current inflation, and whether it is occurring so that governments can inflate away the value of physical fiat. This way more people will be willing to adopt the digital alternative. Many countries have started to partner with crypto projects so that they can develop their CDBC infrastructure.

The Metaverse Narrative to Continue Further

Along with the growth of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), games on the blockchain, and other crypto niches, the metaverse narrative will only grow stronger. In addition to the positive effects that these niches will have on crypto adoption, they will also drive the interest of many institutions. Many big brand companies are beginning to get into the NFT market.

The latest of this adoption is Adidas and its NFT collection briefly became one of the biggest due to its volume. Most of the companies that create NFT collections are in the food and beverage, and retail shopping sector. This comes as no surprise because both of the industries are facing challenges due to the supply chain shortages.

Selling NFTs do not require you to utilize the supply chain system, and you also do not need a physical location to display your virtual products. As technology begins to advance, you will note that line between physical and virtual will start to blur.

Another advantage of digitizing the retail market is that the overhead is much lower in the metaverse. All of these advantages are pushing the metaverse adoption, and Facebook’s rebrand is becoming a leader in the current metaverse movement.

People are immersing in multiplayer video games more often today, which only goes to show the potential for metaverse adoption. Co founder of Axie Infinity believes that the next generation of social media platforms will be indistinguishable from metaverse gaming platforms. He has been saying this since July 2021.

In other words, it is very likely that the next social media platform will be based on a blockchain game, and big companies in the gaming industry are willing to explore this niche as well. Adidas, Ubisoft, and Meta cannot move as quickly as crypto currency projects in these niches, and all of their crypto activities will be under scrutiny by regulators.

More Exchange Traded Products

You are likely to see more exchange traded products for cryptocurrencies that are approved in the US. These products will specifically pertain to an ethereum future ETF and a spot bitcoin ETF. When you pair that with the fact that there is a strong institutional demand for Ethereum and 100K of micro Eth future contracts traded in the first weeks adds to this claim.

Furthermore, SEC chairman Gary Gensler stated that they will gladly approve any crypto ETFs backed by regulated financial instruments like the CME futures. This is the SEC approved three Bitcoin futures ETFs in the last year.

When it comes to a spot Bitcoin ETF, the approval of such as instrument can entirely depend on the quality of the crypto custodian that is holding the physical Bitcoin which is being backed by the ETF. Naturally, the only institutions that qualify custody assets in the eyes of regulators are the big banks. This is why wisdomtree refilled its spot bitcoin ETF with a legacy bank shortly after it was rejected by the SEC.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, 2022 has the potential to bring more swings in the crypto space and investing. For investors that are looking to enter the space, it is best to follow the trends and know about the evolution of these dynamics. Many of the popular cryptocurrencies saw their values increase over this year. Overall, there is always something exciting happening in this space and it makes sense to be vigilant for new opportunities.

Robinhood Adds Support for Four New Crypto Assets Including Shiba Inu

Robinhood has had a massive effect on the crypto market. This financial service company’s recent wallet release is going have a potentially profound impact on the ramp up of the market. In August of last year, Robinhood reported that 62% of their revenue was being driven out of Doge Coin. This is amazing since crypto made up 50% of the revenue which was transaction based in the second quarter. This was a jump up from 17% in the first quarter.

Robinhood Expands Crypto Features on Trading App

Robinhood’s investment into new tokens was partly due to the expansion of the crypto trading capabilities of their application. The four coins that Robinhood invested in include Solana (SOL), Compound (COMP), Polygon (MATIC) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

COMP

Compound is a protocol that uses an algorithm to run interest rates autonomously. Developers created this protocol so that people had access to an open source financial application. Compound allows users to deposit their digital assets into a lending pool and then earn interest out of the deposit they have lent. In this, holders of the crypto asset can take a vote to change the protocol. This Ethereum-based governance token stands at a supply of 10 million.

MATIC

This is a decentralized block chain that operates as a side layer to Ethereum and leverage from Ethereum’s security. MATIC is a native token of the Polygon network, and processes multiple thousand transactions on its blockchain.

SOLANA

This is another proof of stake blockchian that is created to enable many Crypto-based functions. It has no total supply and it is integral to many DApps, exchanges, protocols and projects in the crypto space. It leads in the top five charts in terms of market cap, making it one of the most popular alt coin.

SHIB

Shiba Inu is an ethereum based coin that resides on its blockchain. It was launched as a meme coin following the popularity of Doge Coin in August 2020. The creator of this project remains anonymous and the current founders claim that it was just an experiment for decentralized community building. After gaining popularity and acknowledgment by celebrities, Shiba Inu is starting to make collaborations to form new use cases.

After the announcements of the investment, each of the coins saw a significant jump in valuation. Now, users of Robinhood can easily purchase the coins on the application. This is going to be very interesting. However, many people are confused over the timing of their listing.

Users also do not need a crypto wallet to purchase SHIB tokens on the Robinhood app. This listing was very random and not many people had anticipated it. There was no buildup before any of these investments had been made and the sudden purchase has many people guessing.

Moreover, the company is utilizing the lightning network to conduct Bitcoin Transactions, and this goes back to scenarios that were announced at Bitcoin 2022. Many things are starting to revolve around payment transactions and the platforms that could potentially be employed on.

Robinhood came in and layered in the lightning network built on top of Bitcoin. By doing so, it has become a part of the tech companies that use the lightning network. As they go into the wallet aspect on the use of Bitcoin, it will lean into a good future towards where Robinhood is going.

RobinHood’s Future

Experts are also hinting Robinhood to becoming a much more active crypto currency exchange. They are seeing the future and movement of the asset classes, along with a yound economy around Robinhood. This is why it is very possible if the acquisition of tokens will drift towards this platform.

On another aspect, Robinhood’s crypto wallet opened up to a total of two million people. Several people in the crypto pit were able to get their hands on the wallet so that they could move the tokens fairly quickly. The biggest challenges of getting into the exchanges and being able to move outside and do some of the complex trades is usually the settlement timeframe between the bank and the exchange.

In this instance, having Robinhood as a fiat on ramp has been very helpful for many traders that are starting to utilize robinhood with the new application and aspect of the wallet. Opening up to 2 million users was therefore an interesting move by the company.

Interesting and Noticeable Features

Robinhood’s pricing is in many cases much better on some of the tokens. Users are able to get a better position on this platform than some of the other major platforms. Something to watch here is that Bitcoin is a recurring investment and this starts to push the aspect of where robinhood may be going in terms of a crypto exchange.

The one downside of this is the platforms lack of NFT capacity. Another big play for the platform would include them rolling out NFT wallet for the users. In a poll, users were most bullish about Shiba Inu amongst the four tokens that Robinhood invested in. As soon as they announced SHIB investment, there was a big movement of about 22% in its price.

Shiba Inu Price News

The Robinhood listing is acting as the catalyst for making the price of this coin rise. As Robinhood enabled SHIB purchases, the Etherum whales are starting to gobble up as many Shibs as possible. They have increased their activity in accumulating this coin. Two whales are leading this collection, and these purchases are making it difficult for small investors to gauge the market.

Final Words

Robinhood’s jump towards the Crypto assets only goes to show that mainstream payment systems are slowly started to adopt alternative methods of financing. Not only that, it also shows the rapid acceptance of digitized transactions. Shiba Inu and the four coins may be the start to a complete transformation towards crypto assets for Robinhood.