NEW YORK, May 30, 2018 --
According to a research report by consultancy company Capgemini and bank BNP Paribas, the global digital payments volumes are predicted to increase by an average 10.9 percent by 2020, reaching nearly 726 billion transactions. The report estimates that volumes generated by emerging economies will grow by 19.6 percent, or three-times the rate of mature economies. Emerging Asian countries, led by China and India, are projected to lead with growth of 30.9 percent in volumes. Increased digitization of corporate B2B payments is affecting digital payment infrastructure. In Mature markets, more and more small and medium-sized businesses are using digital invoicing, virtual cards, and cloud-based finance and accounting. Glance Technologies Inc. (OTC: GLNNF), On Track Innovations Ltd. (NASDAQ: OTIV), NXT-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTD), Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT), MoneyGram International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI)
The Blockchain technology is expected to play a major role in the future of digital payment processing solutions. The Blockchain tech, through the use of encrypted distributed ledgers, provides secure real-time verification of transactions and eliminates the need for mediators such as correspondent banks. Major companies in the financial sector are already on board with the technology. Late last year, Mastercard announced that it is offering the ability to send money over a blockchain rather than by swiping a credit card. According to a report by Fortune, Justin Pinkham, a senior vice president at Mastercard Labs, explained why Mastercard's blockchain operates independently of a cryptocurrency, and instead accepts payments in traditional local money. "We are not using a cryptocurrency, and we are not introducing a new cryptocurrency, because that introduces other challenges-regulatory, legal challenges… If you do a payment, then what we can do is move those funds in the way that we do today in fiat currency," Pinkham said.
Glance Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: GLNNF) also listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the Ticker (CSE: GET). Yesterday the company announced breaking news and provided the following update from Chief Executive Officer Desmond Griffin, "Dear Glance shareholders: We are building the future at Glance. Our technology is right at the forefront as people change the way they pay for goods and services. I am writing to reassure you about Glance's great prospects, given the misinformation (which we have repeatedly corrected) and negativity you might have read from a former officer who was terminated in February and who is now a dissident shareholder.
A big part of our go forward plan includes the new version of the Glance merchant app. We are devoting significant resources to this development and expect it to launch in the second half of fiscal 2018. The new version of the Glance merchant app is important as it enables merchants to quickly download it directly to their own mobile devices.
This should allow us to accelerate the sales process, moving from a direct sales model to predominantly digital sales through online and tele-marketing, targeting markets in a number of geographies with minimal overhead. We plan to expand this technology into online purchases and e-commerce by leveraging our anti-fraud technology for online merchants suffering high fraud rates.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency - We are working diligently on our cryptocurrency technology and are assembling what we believe is a strong team on this front. This blockchain-based rewards platform will allow Glance merchants to reward and provide deals and incentives to customers based on smart contracts. To accelerate the progress of this app and our core technology, we have strengthened our team with the addition of employees with valuable experience gained at other leading technology companies.
Our plan is to provide a loyalty mechanism that allows Glance users to spend accumulated rewards within a larger marketplace. We also anticipate that by rewarding Glance users with our token, we will enable everyday individuals to get involved with cryptocurrency and hopefully encourage widespread adoption. We believe blockchain and cryptocurrencies are fundamentally transformative technologies, providing significant opportunities for the early pioneers in this space. According to Coinschedule.com, over $3.7 billion USD was invested in cryptocurrency initial coin offerings in 2017. That large influx of capital investment should accelerate the advance of fundamental blockchain platform technology as well as applications and more widespread adoption of the technology in the next few years.
Our second quarter so far - The second quarter of 2018 has been our most successful quarter to date in terms of customer expansion and adding new merchants. We have signed more than 140 locations, and added our largest restaurant chain to-date, including our first significant U.S.-based restaurant chain. In May, we also hosted a very successful blockchain conference in Vancouver, building recognition for Glance's brand and capabilities. Over time, we expect that increasing usage of our app, combined with new features, will deliver a growing stream of monthly revenue from merchants through a tiered Software-as-a-Service subscription model. This will be in addition to our ability to generate new revenue from transactions, advertising, promotions, and consumer fees for premium features.
With a disruptive new technology like ours, it takes time to establish critical mass. However, once critical mass is achieved, it can become viral very rapidly. We are working towards that tipping point, having carefully developed and proved the technology locally (in Vancouver), just as I did at PayByPhone, and are now beginning to expand internationally.
Licensing - Euro Asia Pay Holdings Inc. ("Euro Asia Pay") was the first company to seek a licensing agreement with Glance when they approached us in the spring of 2017. We announced our letter of intent with Euro Asia Pay in April 2017 and the definitive agreement in October 2017. Euro Asia Pay was keenly interested in us because it was aware of PayByPhone's history of success with mobile payments. Our team, with myself in the lead, developed a solid relationship with Euro Asia Pay's team and closed the licensing transaction.
This licensing transaction was based on similar models that I used in earlier ventures that had resulted in operational success. All of our licensing transactions are based on the innovations and technology platform we have built, and are continuing to build. We are continuing to look for more opportunities to leverage our technology.
We are also exploring licensing opportunities for the BlockImpact cryptocurrency and blockchain platform that we acquired last year to accelerate our blockchain development. These licensing opportunities would go beyond our rewards token initiative."
On Track Innovations Ltd. (NASDAQ: OTIV) is a global leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of secure cashless payment solutions using contactless NFC technology. OTI's field-proven innovations have been deployed around the world to address cashless payment, automated retail, and petroleum markets. On March 26, 2018, the company has launched its cryptocurrency (CC) payment solution for the micropayment market and automated machines. The innovative OTI system, which was developed following extensive research into the market, allows the use of (CC) standard mobile wallets. The company's solution is simple, easy to use, fully secure method for micropayments, and tackles the significant challenges of CC in automated machines and micro-payments. This ground-breaking payment solution provides high-speed, low-fee transactions, while also solving global currency exchange issues that may arise from using CC as a form of payment.
NXT-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTD) provides a comprehensive platform of technology products and services that enable the Internet of Things (IoT). With extensive experience in access control, biometric and behavior-metric identity verification, security and privacy, encryption and data protection, payments, miniaturization and sensor technologies, NXT-ID develops and markets groundbreaking solutions for payment and IoT applications. Earlier this year, the company announced that it is now accepting pre-orders for Flip™, a new contactless payment device that will enable cryptocurrency holders to use the value of their currency to make purchases at millions of retail locations. The new device uses value exchanged from cryptocurrency to make traditional payment transactions. Flip's near field communication (NFC) antenna allows it to transact payments at any retail point of sale location that accepts contactless payments. Flip will store a preloaded amount of U.S. dollars that are exchanged from the user's existing cryptocurrency account. It includes a digital wallet that allows the user to set how much value they would like their Flip to hold and when they would like it to reload. Initially, Flip will accept value exchanged from Bitcoin and will potentially expand to other cryptocurrencies in the future.
Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT) is leveraging its expertise and a network of professional advisors to build and support blockchain technologies. Earlier this year, the company announced that its majority owned Tess Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to complete a transaction with Cresval Capital Corp. TessPay is a blockchain company developing a supply chain payment platform for businesses to attempt to guarantee payment on time and in full. The blockchain is a decentralized and encrypted ledger that offers a secure, efficient, verifiable and permanent way of storing records and other information without the need for intermediaries. These protocols are the backbone of numerous digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Blockchain protocols have a wide range of use, including processing transactions, accounting, verification and proof of ownership across a far-reaching spectrum of applications.
MoneyGram International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI) is a global provider of innovative money transfer and payment services and is recognized worldwide as a financial connection to friends and family. Earlier this year, the company announced that Ripple, provider of the leading enterprise blockchain solution for payments, has partnered with MoneyGram to pilot XRP in their payment flows. MoneyGram will pilot the use of XRP, the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger, in payment flows through xRapid, Ripple's solution for on-demand liquidity. XRP remains the most efficient digital asset for payments with transaction fees at just fractions of a penny, compared to Bitcoin fees of about $30 per transaction. Money transfer companies, like MoneyGram, allow people to safely and efficiently send cross-border payments to friends, families and business partners. The current model for these payments requires money transfer companies to use pre-funded accounts across the globe to source liquidity. Newer blockchain technologies have the potential to revolutionize this process and optimize capital deployment.
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