The Technological Future of Money

the
technological
future of

Money
a study on the technological exponents of change shaping the future of money

Envisioning is an independent research
foundation based in Brasil.
Our global team of academics, hackers and
designers study technology to understand
accelerating change.
We share our work with our own tools,
methodology and design.

This briefing on the future of money is the
first in a series of explorations on the future
of global systems; including industries,
sectors and economies.
Starting our research on the technology of
money is a matter of timing: we believe an
industry-toppling, government -shifting,
sector-disrupting revolution is underway.
Think Napster, but bigger. Much bigger.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peasap/935756569/

Indeed, hiding in plain sight, money is a
technology. As a human invention, it is no different
than passports, agriculture or space flight, and
like networks and computers, it obeys the same
accelerating laws ( ).
From beads to gold, it has changed shape, and
from changing hands to routing data, the transfer
of money has accelerated, expanded & multiplied.
Today, this ancient technology is transforming
society’s concept of power and how it is held.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/5896504098/

While governments are facing coalescing
citizens and the financial industry
is perpetually covering its ass. Yet,
technologies and their communities have
flourished as digitized money flows freely
through their networks.
Internet-born currencies, network-only
banks and HFT algorithms have become free
agents operating at breakneck speeds with
no regard to existing laws or powers.
The playing field is not just leveling, it is
changing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zigazou76/6970321441/

Our fractured financial landscape shows no sign of
moving toward more order.
In the following pages, we identify individual
technologies that are shifting power between
long-siloed entities of institutions, networks and
individuals.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spyker3292/5555247954/

These power shifts are well underway.
Banks and governments know they are losing
their grip on customers and citizens.
Technology shows no sign of slowing down.
This leaves us perpetually future-shocked, trying
to grapple with narrower slices of understanding.
This is our attempt to explain what is happening.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polubeda/4271425107/

fall of fiat
The future of money looks nothing like its past. Handling money
today feels like faxing when you could be texting: it works, but is a
mind-boggling, convoluted and antiquated process.
Banks create scarcity by centralizing money. This scarcity is
artificial.
A wealth of startups and communities are working around the
limitations of money-as-a-system by developing technology-backed
alternative currencies. Reputation systems, attention economies,
digital currencies are all inventive solutions to measure value in
decentralized economies.
With the notable exception of cryptocurrencies, virtually all existing
currency systems are the result of a shared belief in the currency
system itself. Some systems claim their value through fiat (Euro),
others through commodity (silver), but they all share a single,
centralized belief, be it in the future prosperity of the EU, or the
utility of silver.
Decentralized currency systems have the freedom of being entirely
unpredictable and detached from convention. Bitcoins and their
value are derived over time from a computational mathematical
function. Ripple creates financial capital from a monetary honor
system. The future of decentralized currency is fast, unpredictable
and ruthless.

8

5

ATTENTION ECONOMIES
With the internet’s persistence,
the attention of an individual
is becoming a scarce and
increasingly valuable
commodity. When attention
is paid, spent, given, taken
– or transacted – it becomes
influence, which then develops
as capital. Social media has
developed the first mechanisms
for quantifying it – tweets, likes,
comments, reblogs, etc.

1

Reputation Economies
The reputation of an individual
or an institution can be easily
measured and assessed online.
As the network, in the form of
social media, provides more
opportunities for individual
influence through comments,
reviews and likes, it provides
more context, cause and
character for decision-making.
This creates accountability and
transparency and ultimately
drives individuals and
institutions to be good.

Timebanking
Timebanking is a means of exchange used
to organise people and organisations around
a purpose, where time is the principal
currency. For every hour participants
‘deposit’ in a timebank, perhaps by giving
practical help and support to others, they
are able to ‘withdraw’ equivalent support in
time when they themselves are in need. In
each case the participant decides what they
can offer. Everyone’s time is equal, so one
hour of my time is equal to one hour of your
time, irrespective of whatever we choose
to exchange. Because timebanks are just
systems of exchange, they can be used in an
almost endless variety of settings.

Klout
Klout measures individual influence based
on the ability to drive action across the social
web. Any person can connect their social
network accounts and Klout will generate
a score out of 100. Klout also provides
people with opportunities to shape and be
recognized for their influence.
envi.si/14pPz7D

envi.si/17LJzrH

More than 25% of Generation Y reported high interest in a hypothetical
infomediary who would manage consumers digital identity and footprints
envi.si/1a2s9xk

9

Bondsy
Bondsy is a smartphone
application for friends
to trade things you can’t
put a price on. When you
aren’t forced to pay with
money, things get a lot
more interesting. You
are more comfortable
transacting with friends.
It’s important to highlight:
everything is private
on Bondsy. Pricetags
are freeform, so you
can ask for anything in
return. When you want
something, tap ‘Grab’ and
make an offer.

2

Peer-to-Peer Economies
Peer-to-peer economies
occur when the production,
transaction and consumption
of goods happen between
individuals, not companies.
Peer-to-peer economies are
not new, but the internet has
allowed more people to connect
and trade, leading to an
expansion of currencies (time,
attention, resources, influence)
and the platforms through
which they are traded.

envi.si/168wPgN

New Rules for the New Economy (1998)
Wired founder Kevin Kelly spoke about the future value
of connectivity at a time most pundits still debated
whether the internet would ever take off.
envi.si/17QLZsH

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3

Digital Currencies
In a normal banking system, the
value of money is chipped away by
several middlemen before it gets
to the end user. Digital currencies
are powered by the network – they
are decentralised and peer-to-peer,
making them powerfully frictionless.
Cryptocurrencies rely on cryptography
and a proof-of-work scheme (‘mining’
by using supercomputers to decipher
hashed algorithms). They are
generally capped and have no inflation
to maintain scarcity and value.
Identified by cryptographic keys,
with an open-source client where
transactions must be verified by the
whole, the movement and growth of
cryptocurrencies are fully transparent,
traceable and anonymous.

Butterfly Labs received over 20.000
pre-orders for their dedicated Bitcoin miner
envi.si/1bsD4OP

Namecoin

Ven Currency
Ven is a digital
social currency
used to share, buy,
sell and trade in
the world of Hub
Culture and beyond.
The value of Ven
floats against other
currencies and the
price is based on a
basket of currencies,
commodities and
carbon futures.

Namecoin is a peer-topeer generic name/value
datastore system based
on Bitcoin technology.
It allows you to securely
register and transfer
arbitrary names, no
possible censorship, attach
values to the names (up to
1023 bytes) and trade and
transact namecoins, the
digital currency NMC.
envi.si/1bsCOiw

envi.si/16NTiAO

11

The Technological Future of Money

Bitcoin

Rethinking Money (2013)
Bernard Lietaer and Jacqui Dunne explore the origins
of our current monetary system, built on bank debt and
scarcity to paint an alternative picture of how we could
improve our existing implementations.

Bitcoin is the first practical
implementation of a cryptocurrency.
Though more than half of all Bitcoins
have already been mined since its
creation in 2009, it will take until 2140
for the last one to be found.
envi.si/19qTutM

envi.si/16oflOx

Mt.Gox
Mt.Gox is the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, handling
a majority by volume of currency exchanges involving the
cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Mt.Gox was established in 2009
as a trading card exchange, but rebranded itself in 2010 as
a Bitcoin business and quickly became a dominant player
in the field of Bitcoin exchanges.
envi.si/1dndAUM

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4

Decentralized currencies
With the notable exception of
cryptocurrencies, virtually all
existing currency systems are
the result of a shared belief
in the currency system itself.
Some systems claim their value
through fiat (Euro), others
through commodity (silver),
but they all share a single,
centralized belief, be it in the
future prosperity of the EU, or
the utility of silver.
Decentralized currency systems
have the freedom of being
entirely unpredictable and
detached from convention.
Bitcoin value is derived from
a computational mathematical
function over time. Ripple
creates financial capital from a
monetary honor system based
on existing trust between social
network users. The future of
decentralized currency is fast,
unpredictable and ruthless.

The End Of Money (2012)
David Wolman cleverly describes a future where
cash is rapidly disappearing as well as the
technologies that are prone to take its place.
envi.si/1eotUYl

Lamassu

LiteCoin

Bitcoin ATM. Insert cash,
get Bitcoins. Accepts notes
from over 200 countries.

Bitcoins are so often viewed as an
electronic gold with Litecoins be seen as
silver. It was now time to be seen. Fact is,
the electronic currencies in recent years
are coming in strong. The total value of
the crypto-currency is currently at 38
million U.S. dollars. Litecoins eliminate
several shortcomings of Bitcoins: The
authentication time a payment is only
two and a half minutes – about a quarter
of the average response time of the
Bitcoin network. The mining algorithm
is Scrypt, so users can use standard
PC hardware to mining. And the total
volume of all Litecoin ever available is 84
million, which represents a four-fold the
maximum volume of Bitcoin.

envi.si/16qp0Dm

envi.si/1cYkke7

14

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We see a rapidly accelerating world and want to empower inﬂuencers from all sides to join the conversation.

envi.si/fom-tweet

envi.si/fom-fb

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banking
as a layer
Computers were conceived as mainframes but morphed into
laptops, desktops, smartphones and tablets within a generation.
Financial technology is still tethered to its past.
Fintech needs to let go if they want to compete with the network.
Emerging technologies are handing banking powers to networked
individuals – they can leverage funds collectively and manage their
finances intelligently.
Sharing personal financial information with third-party services in
a secure, selective and predictable manner will enable customers
to play a more active role in their managing of money. Digital
money will be conceived as a system of deeply interconnected and
interdependent agents, open to anyone or anything.
The future of fintech is horizontal, not vertical. Platforms,
not mainframes. Porous interfaces, not monolithic surfaces.
Empowering, not controlling. Small (personal) data, not only big
(collective) data.

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22

Banking APIs
Application Programming Interfaces specify how
software components interact with each other,
and in banking, it allows third-party applications
to connect to the consumer’s account. Combining
technology, design and user-experience principles,
new banking applications can remove complexity
and offer simple – yet powerful and intuitive –
products and services. These can range from
support for the visually impaired, to creating
dialogue around transactions, to personal financial
management packages. Ultimately, this gives
consumers greater engagement and command of
their financial life.

The Open Bank Project

GoCardless
GoCardless is a UK-based service that
allows smaller merchants to easily set up
interbank transfers for customers.
envi.si/162Dh5A

62% of surveyed
bank customers

say they prefer
online banking
envi.si/16J7Mjz

The Open Bank Project
is an open source API
and App store for banks
that empowers financial
institutions to securely
and rapidly enhance their
digital offerings using an
ecosystem of 3rd party
applications and services.
envi.si/1d4c9dD

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21

Online-Only Banks
A model conceived in the mid90s for lower operational costs.
This enables higher interest
rates, lower fees and minimum
requirements. Based online, they
can problem-solve and innovate
easily with technology – deposits
are done via smartphone photos
and customer service is available
immediately through online
chatting. This model will prevail
over traditional banking.

40% of surveyed customers claim they
would eventually outsource personal
finances to a digital assistant
envi.si/18sJhIH

Holvi
Holvi replaces your bank
account with a service that
offers a smart checking account
for group activities. The
account and budget is shared
by your whole team, offering
full transparency. Full bank
payments can be made, both
in and out. Uniquely a very
wide range of information can
be attached to all payments.
This means accounting and
money management happens
completely automatically.
Finally, you can easily collect
money to support your activity.

Simple (formerly Bank Simple)
is creating a better interface for
banking through the web and
mobile apps. In partnership
with financial institutions
which will hold the actual
deposits, Simple is focusing
on improving customer
experience and simplifying the
banking process by unifying all
accounts into one, accessible
through a bank card.

envi.si/19glsEW

envi.si/14uQzaH

Simple

18

Mint
Mint.com is a free online personal finance service. It
automatically pulls bank, credit card, mortgage, loan and
investment transactions from over 7,500 US financial
institutions daily — giving users an up-to-date view of their
money with no data entry, import or synching required. It
categorizes all transactions, showing users how much they
spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, and more; their bank,
credit card and investment account balances; the amount of
interest they’re earning/paying, etc.

Moven

envi.si/19gl7lB

Moven is a mobile
money service that
helps you spend, save,
and live smarter. You
can load, transfer,
spend, and track your
money using your
mobile device. Its
tools provide you with
instant feedback on
your transactions and
spending patterns.

Check (formerly Pageonce) is an award-winning app that stays
on top of your bills & money for you, so you never miss a bill
or get hit with overdraft & late fees again. Just set it up once
and the app goes work – proactively staying on top of your bills
and monitoring your bank accounts and credit cards, all in one
place. When bills are due or funds are low, the app will let you
know so you’re never caught off guard.

envi.si/1d4kD4x

envi.si/18sAbvq

Check

20

Open Data Analytics
As technology enables
more real-time access
to more data, there is
more opportunity for
analysis and improved
decision-making. A raft
of applications have
emerged to evaluate
transaction patterns,
anticipate outcomes,
refine goals and monitor
progress. Individuals
will be able to measure
themselves against large
swaths of the population
and have a clearer
understanding of their
position. Soon, personal
finance decisions,
especially those relating
to income, spending
and debt, will only be
made by first consulting
applications.

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18

Service-Driven Automation
The rise of online banking
platforms has opened up a new
world of financial management
services. Technology has put
automation and control into the
consumers’ hands, enabling them
to program, monitor, verify and
manage their financial profile to
a precise degree. One example:
if my income is above X this
month, transfer Y% of X to my
savings account. It can also
include credit monitoring, fraud
detection, synchronized billing
and invoicing, push notifications.

Bank 3.0 (2013)
Brett King looks at the trends
redefining financial services and
payments, from mobile-only banks
to post-scarcity economies.
envi.si/1eotYY4

Stride
Stripe is the easiest way to accept credit and debit card payments online. With
Stripe, you can create exactly the payment experience you want in your website
or mobile app, and we handle everything from security to daily transfers to your
bank account. Stripe is a simple, developer-friendly way to accept payments
online. They believe that enabling transactions on the web is a problem rooted in
code, not finance, and they want to help put more websites in business.

Stride is a fresh take on sales tracking.
Traditional Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) systems are complex,
clunky and built for full-time salespeople.
Stride strips the sales process down to its
essence, making it accessible to the everyday
user. With clean deal tracking and high-level
metrics, Stride shifts the focus to simplicity.

envi.si/16E47aB

envi.si/13WHPhU

Stripe

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19

Open-source investment Algorithms
Most investment algorithms are
proprietary and managed by large
investment firms. Following the
volatility of the financial markets and
loss of confidence in its institutions,
there has been a rise in platforms to
drive open-source algorithms. Built by a
community, are constantly adapting and
evolving. They provide opportunities for
traders to develop algorithms for their
own needs, and quickly test
new ideas in investments.

Quantopian
Quantopian is building the world’s first
algorithmic trading platform in your
browser. It’s a tools and support give
quants what they need to learn, create,
test, trade – and reap the benefits of
quantitative finance for themselves.
envi.si/13WQl0j

Abundance (2012)
Futurist Peter Diamandis and science
writer Steven Kotler present an appealing future
where exponentially growing technologies
conspire to better the lives of billions and
redefine the nature of money.
envi.si/15o4Mvh

21

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With your support, we can focus on envisioning the future of technology.

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accelerating
transactions
Who are you? In order to make a transaction from an account,
your identity must be verified. This technology is accelerating and
becoming objective.
Vendors and bank tellers once asked personal questions and
eyeballed handwritten signatures or 2x4 photos before moving
money. Now, with single sign-ons, biometrics and intelligent
hardware, you can be verified with a few keystrokes, the tap of a
smartphone or a scan of your fingerprint. By accessing data at the
speed of light, identification and transactions are nearly frictionless.
As networks take on the job of identification, their increasingly
sophisticated algorithms will offer unprecedented accuracy and
objectivity. This means more security and less fraud.

26

Biometric Identification

11

Developments like Square and
PayPal readers have added
1.2 million new businesses
over the past year to the card
firms’ list of merchants
Economist envi.si/1d4vqfe

Biometrics, such as fingerprints,
can be used to identify the user
and authorize the transfer of funds.
Often, the system uses two-factor
authentication, in which the finger
scan is followed by typing in a PIN
(personal ID number) as usual. This
provides unprecedented security
and frees users from carrying
identification.

Paytango
Offers a point-of-sale
fingerprint reader for
customers. They create
an account linking their
fingerprint with their cards
and PIN. At the POS, they
just press their fingers on
the reader to authenticate.
This takes less than 6
seconds.

Nymi
Nymi is a bracelet that uses your unique cardiac rhythm to
authenticate your identity. It will provide interaction with
other devices as a token of authenticity. Opening doors,
unlocking phones, inputting passwords, etc…
envi.si/19fmBMv

envi.si/14IB1Ec

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10

Contactless Payments
Near field communication (NFC),
location and scanning technologies
on smartphones are powering
contactless in-store transactions.
A customer can scan a 2D barcode,
tap their phone on a NFC machine,
or check in with a nearby merchant
to authorize transactions from
linked accounts. This streamlines
payment systems, reduces
infrastructure and lowers costs.

6

Single Sign-On
Single sign-on allows a user to log
in once and gain access to multiple
software systems at once. This
reduces the fatigue, time spent and
support needed from managing
different username and password
combinations, and could turn into an
universal protocol that relinquishes
passwords or pins.

The Ghost
of Bitcoin
Polygon’s Charlie
Hall sets out on a
journey to uncover
the elusive (or
pseudonymous)
Satoshi Nakamoto
in an attempt to
explain the past,
present and
future of Bitcoin.
envi.si/18gsSKC

Google Wallet
Google Wallet is a virtual wallet that stores
payment information securely and makes
paying fast both in-store and online. With
Google Wallet, users can store credit,
loyalty, and gift cards and make payments
through MasterCard PayPass.
envi.si/13i7zqD

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8

Location as a Layer
A smartphone’s location capabilities
can power verification and
transactions. For example, a
smartphone can be used to verify
the location of a user making a
transaction. This can provide
context and increased security for
customers – action can be taken
immediately if a purchase occurs
in England, but your smartphone
puts you in Brazil. Further, a
location services can check you into
registered locations, and transactions
can be made after you give the
merchant your name.

7

Mobile Credit Card Readers
A hardware add-on for smartphones
that uses their internet connection
to enable credit card processing.
As an alternative to traditional
credit card authorisation, this offers
institutions, big or small, more
independence and a smaller setup
cost for payment systems.

Square
Square is a solution for both
merchants and consumers to
pay and charge for products
and services using their
mobile devices. It allows
customers to set up a tab and
pay for their order simply with
their name using a stored
credit, debit, or gift card.
The app supports manually
entering the card details or
swiping the card through the
Square Reader. It also serves
as a full point-of-sale system
for businesses to accept
payments, manage items,
and share menu and location
information.
envi.si/168R1PL

29

9

Digital Wallets
Software wallets today already do
more than their leather counterparts;
they are streamlining transactions,
and moving a host of new currencies
and economies. Smartphones can
use scanning technology to scan 2D
barcodes, NFC components to make
payments, and location services to
develop relationships with nearby
merchants. Expect a crop of apps and
services that let you store, synchronize,
track and share the contents of your
wallet across devices, and let you pay
in a multitude of units from Google
Credits, Canadian Cryptodollars to
Facebook shares.

Square’s annualized rate of processed
transactions is now up to $5 billion ,
up from $4 billion a month ago

Chirpify
Uniqul
Uniqul is a provider of
world’s first face recognition
payment system. Customers
don’t need phone or wallet
to pay in the store: just
being there enough. Uniqul
is world’s fastest payment
system. They are effectively
reducing time spent on
retail payments from
present day 30 seconds to
nearly 0 seconds.

Chirpify turns replies and
comments into cash, enabling
businesses and consumers
to buy, sell, donate, fundraise
and pay in-stream on social
media. These are social,
device agnostic, frictionless,
in-stream, one step payments.
By removing all frictions
of a traditional payments
or e-commerce system,
Chirpify transforms social
platforms from broadcast to
transactional.

envi.si/13i6OOl

envi.si/168PRns

Gigaom – News On Tech & Startups envi.si/15AWCL0

30

The Currency Cloud
The Currency Cloud
platform leverages the
cloud to provide access
to a multitude of payment
networks, exchange rate
providers, comprehensive
administration, and
automation for a payment’s
lifecycle – from pricing and
beneficiary management,
through execution and
receipt to settlement and
reporting.
envi.si/13WK0SG

Two-thirds of
the adult kenyan
population
Balanced Payments
Balanced is the
first payment
system designed for
marketplaces from the
ground up. We provide
a feature-rich, fully
integrated API that
allows marketplaces to
charge cards, escrow
funds, deposit next
day via ACH direct,
and collect their own
marketplace fees.
envi.si/16O3OIs

is using mobilemoney services,
mainly to transfer
money to family
members or business
partners in distant
locations, but
increasingly
for bill payments
and small loans.”
Globe and Mail
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31

Dwolla is on track to process over
$1 billion for 250,000 consumers
and businesses in 2013
envi.si/178mMeO

Lemon
Lemon helps you
spend smarter. It
turns the smartphones
into a digital wallet
that organizes and
stores IDs, credit
cards, loyalty cards,
receipts, coupons and
more, so can access
what you need more
conveniently, and are
always backed up in
case your wallet is lost
or stolen.

Dwolla

Google is rolling out a feature in Gmail that lets you
attach money in emails or chats. Using Google Wallet,
a new button ($) in the Gmail compose window will
allow you to easily send money as a gift or repayment.

Dwolla provides a free
web-based software
platform which allows
users to send, receive,
and request funds from
any other user. Dwolla’s
maximum transaction
cost is 25 cents per
transaction.

envi.si/1cLrlxR

envi.si/16LUxjm

Emailing money

envi.si/19gnvZD

32

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leveraging
crowds
Standing on the shoulders of technology, networked
individuals can organize themselves around possibilities
invisible and unreachable to institutions. These networks
can look like chaotic swarms, but are intrinsically
interdependent and infinitely more sophisticated than any
systems diagram would have you believe.
Platforms provided by the internet have enabled the
exchange of resources, from the digital to the physical, and
allowed us to nurture new economies. With sustainability,
utility and community in mind, there has been a decisive
shift from consumption and the concept of wealth has
expanded. It’s more about cause, than cash.

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17

Collaborative Consumption
Powered by network technologies
and peer communities,
collaborative consumption is
a new economic model geared
toward developing access, not
ownership. Through online
platforms, consumers are able
to lend, swap, barter, share
and gift products on an
unprecedented scale. Massive
networks for social lending,
car sharing and peer-to-peer
travel have already established
themselves as major economic
forces for sustainability.

WIRED on the future
of money (2010)
Daniel Roth’s seminal
piece of the flexible,
frictionless and (almost)
free future of money.
envi.si/16ofAt5

Zipcar

An online platform for individuals, generally
private parties, to rent unoccupied living space
and other short-term lodging to guests. Listings
include private rooms, entire apartments, castles,
boats, private islands and other properties.

A carsharing company providing
automobile reservations to its
members, billable by the hour or day.
Members can reserve Zipcars online
or by phone at anytime, immediately
or up to a year in advance. Zipcar
members have automated access to
Zipcars using an access card which
works with the car’s technology to
unlock the door, where the keys are
already located inside.

envi.si/16gKOUx

envi.si/13i8B5L

AirBnB

39

15

Crowdsourced Financial
Decision Management
A pool of individuals can be
solicited for support on financial
decisions regarding a project or
company. These individuals are
usually related in some way to
the project or company, either as
investors, consultants or founders.

StockTwits

Forbes estimates the revenue
flowing through the share economy
directly into people’s wallets will
surpass $3.5 billion this year,
with growth exceeding 25%
envi.si/168XFWk

StockTwits is a social, stock
micro-blogging service.
StockTwits is an open,
community-powered idea
and information service
for investments. Users can
eavesdrop on traders and
investors, or contribute to
the conversation and build
their reputation as savvy
market wizards. The service
takes financial related data
and structures it by stock,
user, reputation, etc.

Stockr is a social
media platform for the
financial world that
connects investors
directly to the people
and companies they
want to follow.

envi.si/18sRZqe

envi.si/168VnGu

Stockr

40

12

Upstart

Mike Merril
A 30-year-old part-time
entrepreneur named Mike Merrill
decided to sell himself on the open
market. He divided himself into
100,000 shares and set an initial
public offering price of $1 a share.
Each share would earn a potential
return on profits he made outside
of his day job as a customer
service rep at a small Portland,
Oregon, software company.
envi.si/18IbyLg

Upstart lets a person
monetize their future
potential. They can raise
money today in exchange
for a small share of their
income for either 5 or 10
years. Their backers are
investing in them, not
their idea or business.
Backers can invest in
increments of $100.
They share some of your
upside, but payments are
capped regardless of your
success.
envi.si/14gQ74h

People as Investments
As accomplishments can be
clearly measured, people,
like companies, can position
themselves as investments.
By measuring their potential
through data, statistics and
algorithms, individuals can
raise money in exchange for
a small share of their future
income. Instead of focusing
on investments for a specific
project, they can fund an array of
ventures, which enables a more
holistic approach to innovation.

Lending Club, one of the leading
P2P money lending platforms
recently surpassed USD 1 billion
in personal loans
envi.si/1cLaHhY

41

13

Microfinance
Microfinance is a broad category of
banking services made available to
small businesses and entrepreneurs
who otherwise have no real access
to it due to high associated costs.
It can include microcredit, savings
and fund transfers and is seen
to a powerful tool for economic
development. With peer-to-peer
platforms, the internet has expanded
access to microcredit, linking
wealthier investors to developing
communities and making funds more
readily available by bypassing usual
banking intermediaries.

Flattr
Flattr is a microdonation
system. Users are able to
pay a small amount every
month (minimum 2 euros)
and then click Flattr buttons
on sites to share the money
they paid among those
sites, comparable to an Like
button with money on top.
envi.si/1a2Hlua

Adults under 35 are the most digitally savvy and therefore the most

likely to have participated in sharing or renting online rather than owning

Kiva M-Pesa
A non-profit organization that
allows people to lend money
via the internet to people in
developing countries through
Kiva’s field partners. These
partners can be microfinance
institutions, social businesses,
schools or non-profit
organizations. Kiva includes
personal stories of each person
who needs a loan because they
want their lenders to connect
with their entrepreneurs on a
human level.
envi.si/17ncT98

envi.si/1a2IJwV

42

Zopa

Cumplo.cl
Cumplo is a platform that connects
people and companies that have
funds to invest (Investors) with
other people or companies that need
a Consumer Credit (Applicants).
envi.si/13ymjMN

Meet the
future of
branded
currency
Paul KempRobertson walks
us through a
new generation
of currency
and the the
non-bank future
of currencies.
envi.si/15o5DvG

Zopa is a P2P money lending service
that allows lenders and borrowers to deal
directly with one another, cutting out the
banks who act as middlemen.
envi.si/13yor7g

Covestor
Covestor allows you to compare
and select a diverse group of money
managers, financial advisers, and
experienced investors.
covestor.com/

43

Zopa expects to lend £100 million this year, up from £60 million last year
envi.si/19rbNyU

14

Intention Economy
Proposed by Doc Searls,
the intention economy is a
recourse from the familiar
mass market economy,
where, for most part,
sellers set the prices, and
are in charge. Rather than
having vendors blindly
guess what consumers
want, consumers should
directly signal their
intentions to the market.
Vendors who match the
individual’s terms will
forge efficient, close-knit
relationships and survive
with real customer loyalty.

Queremos

TaskRabbit

Queremos is a
groundbreaking
format that gets fans
directly involved in
the process of making
a concert happen
using crowdfunding.

TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that
allows users to outsource small jobs and tasks to
others in their neighborhood. Users name the task they
need done, name the price they are willing to pay, and
a network of pre-approved TaskRabbits bid to complete
the job. It was founded by Leah Busque in 2008 and
has received $37.5 million in funding.

envi.si/1d0Pdhc

envi.si/16EaACr

44

16

Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding draws
on the power of crowds
and networks to solicit
investments, usually
in small amounts, for
particular projects. It
is a departure from the
traditional model of
investment, which relies
on a select investor or
firm. Though not a new
concept, the internet
and its platforms has
expanded and accelerated
funding to extraordinary
degree. Beyond providing
more access to resources
crowdfunding, reduces
costs, increases
engagement, shifts
mindsets on organizational
possibilities and empowers
small endeavors. It has
launched artists, powered
political campaigns,
provided disaster
relief, pushed software
development, championed
citizen journalism, fueled
scientific research, and
supported civic projects.

EuSocio
Is a virtual environment that brings entrepreneurs and
investors, allowing to do online collective investment
(equity crowdfunding) in micro enterprises and small
businesses based in Brazil.
envi.si/168WMx1

Kickstarter
A company that provides tools
to raise funds for creative
projects via crowd funding
through its website. People
cannot invest in Kickstarter
projects to make money. They
can only back projects in
exchange for a tangible reward
or one-of-a-kind experience,
like a personal note of thanks,
custom T-shirts, dinner with
an author, or initial production
run of a new product.

Gust provides the global platform for the sourcing and
management of early-stage investments. Gust enables
skilled entrepreneurs to collaborate with the smartest
investors by virtually supporting all aspects of the
investment relationship, from initial pitch to successful exit.

envi.si/14uZicL

envi.si/16O8wFU

Gust

45

Zidisha
Zidisha is the only peer-to-peer lending service
to connect individual lenders directly with
microfinance borrowers in low-income countries.
It is based on the conviction that small-scale
entrepreneurs in developing countries are capable
of interacting responsibly with peer-to-peer lenders
via a self-regulating web platform, without needing
local intermediaries to communicate and manage
loan transactions on their behalf.
envi.si/1cyQnRN

@petervan
Peter Vander Auwera from
SWIFT’s Innotribe provides
an insightful stream of
daily fintech links.
envi.si/15YzAz7

Wonga
Wonga.com provides small, short-term
cash advances to UK consumers online.
The company uses sophisticated risk and
decisioning technology to make automated
yet responsible lending decisions.
envi.si/14IDzT4

Join the conversation
Please note that this very much a briefing,
and by no means an exhaustive list of the
technologies and services on the market.
We’re eager to involve our readers! Please
email us to contribute.
team@envisioning.io

46

Curious but confused?
We are available to present an in-depth explanation of key report ﬁndings
at conference keynotes or executive corporate brieﬁngs.

presentations@envisioning.zendesk.com

what
happens next?
The interesting thing about money, is that it is a technology,
a system and an abstraction.
To be established, it needs to be defined, measured and accepted by
more than one party. With this, its power lies in its mutability, or the
many shapes it can take in the human experience.
As today’s individuals become more networked, new systems emerge,
the concept of value becomes elastic.
The innovations identified in this brief – Bitcoin, AirBnb, PayTango,
Quantopian, etc., – are all results of a rapidly connecting society.
As the definition of money becomes more expansive, we are not only
creating more wealth, but creating more opportunities for people to
contribute and benefit from communities. This means massive shifts in
power and paradigms.
Having had held the financial system for centuries, slow-moving
institutions – banks, governments, industries – are now poised for
transformation. By moving from siloed products to interoperable
platforms, static structures to networked systems and thinking
exponentially, they have a chance of playing a role in these new
economies.

48

Your support in downloading and reading
our research goes directly towards building
an ever-improving foundation for the future,
and for that we are deeply thankful.
This report represents small steps towards
a long conversation between us and those
who plan, build, implement and strategize
future technology. We will always strive
to explain our singular perspective of
technological change in order to maximize
potential positive impact on the future.
If you want to be part of the conversation,
please email us: mz@envisioning.io

Michell Zappa

WHO WE ARE

ARTHUR SOARES

CINTIA FERREIRA

ERIN GELD

RESEARCH, CODE, DESIGN

PROJECTS, PHOTOS

EDITING, RESEARCH

Design strategist, technology
enthusiast and amateur cyclist.
Otaku of all things. Spends too
much time on reddit.

A product designer passionate about
photography, music, gastronomy and
feminism. With a great admiration for
technological trends, graduate of
from the best online agencies and in
charge of operations at Envisioning.

Erin reads everything -- books,
networks, closed captions, cities,
long articles, classrooms, faces,
beautiful things. She holds a
bachelor’s in English from
Cornell and a masters’ in
teaching from Columbia.

EVELYN LEINE

THIARA CAVADAS

THOMAZ REZENDE

MICHELL ZAPPA

DESIGN, LAYOUT

RESEARCH, METHODOLOGY

DESIGN, INFOGRAPHICS

DESIGN, RESEARCH, METHODOLOGY

Graphic Designer, Working with
editorial design and exploring content
for mobile devices. Music, weird,
walk, people, little things, authentic,
movement, faith and sunset.

Knowledge hunter. From classical
anthropology to cutting-edge
methodologies, passing through
communication, semiotic, gastronomy and my latest obsession,
technological trends: I just want to
understand it all.

Thomaz is an architect but always
preferred to build in the digital
world. Infographic design, interactive
design, programming, motion
design and graphic design are his
main skills.

Founder and executive director of Envisioning. Tinkerer,
thinker, builder, breaker, designer, hacker and related to
the other Zappa.
Born in Stockholm & raised around the world (currently
in São Paulo). Sci-ﬁ fan, photo buﬀ, music lover, future
shocked & loving it.

Perpetually fascinated by tech and how it shapes society.
He sees technology sprawling out of control and believes
that given the right framework and tools, technological
evolution can explained in predictable terms.
Believes Envisioning to be vessel for achieving this vision,
and that the better we question the fundamental nature of
technology, the better of an understanding and more
control we will have over the future of humanity.

THANK YOU
A heartfelt
thank-you to
those who helped
us see the
research through
Marcos Barreto

Marcus Breekweg

Henry Mason

Michaela Barnes

Alvaro Silva

Kosta Peric

Jennifer Sertl

Steffen Christensen

Josh Calder

Bradley Leimer

Monica Zappa

Daniel Gusev

Reinier Evers

Fabio Madia

Gabriel Levinho

Berend-Jan Hilberts

Lukas Praml

Peter Vander Auwera

Isabella Mulholland

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