The Journey Of Currency From Barter To Bitcoin – Part 2

1967: The invention of ATMs

It is said that John Shepherd-Barron devised the world’s first automatic teller machine while he was taking a bath, and this has historically proven as the single best place to have an epiphany. Eureka! He then pitched the idea to Barclay’s Bank which came to be the first model installed in Enfield, North London in 1967. As they had not yet been invented, the early ATMs used checks impregnated with carbon14 – a radioactive substance- as plastic payment cards weren’t developed and paid out a maximum of £10 at a time. This expanding ATM network paved the way for the rise of debit cards. 

Further on in 2016, ATMs come as simply a fact of our daily lives where convenience comes to be a drug with the most bitter and exponential buildup of tolerance. In case you have even a smidgen, they become a standard requirement as you suddenly lose any idea of how people survived without it. 

1983: Telephone banking

Offering the Nottingham Building Society customers the first internet banking service named Homelink, the Bank of Scotland was the premier consultant to internet banking. In this case, the customers required a television set and a telephone to send transfers as well as pay bills building the foundations for internet banking as we know it. 

1990: Internet banking

Marking the bloom of click-and-brick euphoria, the beginning of the 90s were the businesses and banks sought alike to gain the loyalty of customers expanding into the web. Whereas this strategy proved trickier than previously thought, it also took over 10years for Bank of America to acquire 2 million internet banking users. 

1997: Contactless fuel payment

Mobil Oil Corp introduced Speedpass in1997, as an electronic payment tag letting consumers pay for the fuel at the pump. This is where Speedpass was the first example of contactless payment as a concept that has now spread across the globe. 

2000: Y2K

The new millennium began a substantial psychological blow to internet culture worldwide as it is seen as the mark of an era where customers are now more eager than ever to go online and modern. 

2005: Chip and pin

It was in 2005 that retailers that had not yet signed up to chip and pin became liable for fraudulent transactions as shoppers downed their pens and tapped in four-digit persona codes at pay points instead. Whereas the retailers were up in arms, at this time of shift around four in ten bank cards were yet to be upgraded to chip and pin technology.

2009: The birth of Bitcoin and programmable money

By posting a paper about cryptocurrency on the internet in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto was the first to introduce bitcoins issued in 2009 against a backdrop of the global financial crisis. Whereas in the early day's individuals used bitcoin talk forums, to negotiate the value of the first Bitcoin transactions, thereby with one payment of 10,000 bitcoins it was used to indirectly buy two pepperoni pizzas from Papa John’s in 2010. This led to digital decentralized flexible and secure the birth of programmable money giving us control of the currency where the someday driverless car might be able to pay nearby vehicles to let us overtake when we’re late for work. This brings endless and exciting possibilities. 

2014: Apple Pay

Apple Pay released to the public through an iOS update in 2014 was the continuing fintech revolution with mobile services letting consumers pay using the Apple device removing the need for a wallet with nearly 40 percent of retailers accepting contactless payments it will soon be the time to leave the plastic at home. 

2016: Blockchain

As time goes by, Bitcoin is gaining more traction as banks and businesses still seem more interested in underlying blockchain technology bringing cryptocurrency for better or worse. The technology as of 2016, is being viewed as the blockchain industry which is already receiving over a billion dollars of VC investment and the industry-wide recognition comes with over 35 blockchain projects once announced by one of the world’s foremost financial institutions that include NASDAQ and NYSE. 

Conclusion

Again as we travel from barter to Bitcoin, money, as well as the means of trading, are morphed beyond recognition thanks to new technology as the century is less about how they do more for our money and more about making the money do more for us. With this comes a formative opportunity to break into the blockchain space as at the rate of development it is almost impossible to predict what may come next. This is why money keeps evolving with the underlying technology also evolving.