Social networks have created new forms of money already
and, as I spend more time playing with these virtual currencies, I can see how
they may become the future of money, from a retail and consumer viewpoint
anyway.
For example, last November, I wrote about the threats of money laundering in
virtual worlds. At the time, most of the threats were emerging, and were
represented by figures such as $9,999 paid on eBay for a virtual weapon in the
online game of World of Warcraft.
More
worrisome was the Chinese government’s efforts to stamp out virtual gambling and
other illegal activities which, so far, seem to have failed. The capability came
around thanks to the virtual QQ currency of Tencent Holdings.
Anyways, I decided to have another look at QQ, in part prompted
by the start of China’s Olympic Games, and as I started to spend more time
thinking about it, I am convinced that this is a model for the future of retail
payments.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
