What are the new digital ways to pay?
Today there is greater choice than ever in how to pay for things.
Contactless technology is used in many debit and credit cards. Then there are services that store payment cards digitally (like PayPal or Apple Pay), allowing contactless payments to be made using a PC or smartphone. Other services link your mobile phone number to your bank account so you can pay someone by sending a text.
Most of these innovations are about making it easier to pay for things. It is the same underlying systems that make a secure payment possible whenever you pay by debit card – whether it’s contactless or using a PIN, in-store or online.
It is worth noting that digital currency schemes, like Bitcoin or Ripple, are an altogether different thing. They combine new payment systems and new currencies. So to pay for things using Bitcoin, say, you would first need to buy bitcoins (using pounds, US dollars, euros etc).