Blockchain Loyalty Programs – Sizzling Or Fizzling?

I’ve been asked many times to share my take on the latest status of Rakuten Coin, an altcoin that I wrote about in How Blockchain Can Crack The Holy Grail Of Loyalty Programs four years ago. That is not strictly true. I’ve been asked only once, by someone on Twitter. @droskill: The Rakuten coin was launched … Read more

Why Is It Hard To Catch Cybercriminals?

When the authorities say cash leads to tax evasion, counterfeiting, etc., the common man (“Joe”) thinks it’s because cash is anonymous. When they goad him to ditch cash and move to digital payments, Joe assumes that digital payment will eliminate fraud because it’s not anonymous. Then, one day, Joe uses a digital payment like UPI … Read more

Unpacking The B2B2C Business Model

If you sell to a business, you’re B2B. If you sell to a consumer, you’re B2C. That much is clear. According to the popular narrative, if you sell to a business, which sells to a consumer, you’re B2B2C. That’s not correct. The true B2B2C is when Your company sells a product / service to a … Read more

Open Banking: EU v. USA

Open Banking is a flop, it’s too costly, clunky, and businesses struggle to make money from it. – Anne Boden, CEO of Starling Bank, to Treasury Committee (Source). With a regulatory mandate and after five years of incessant media buzz, EU Open Banking recently crossed 5 million users. See Open banking passes five million user … Read more

Merchants Give Middle Finger To RBI Emandate

At the conclusion of my post entitled How RBI Emandate Can Become Consumer Savior, I had outlined two alternative operating models for the new RBI Emandate. For the uninitiated, Emandate, a new regulation that came into effect in India from 1 October 2021, changes how banks process recurring payments and auto debits (“Standing Instructions”) set … Read more

Leading Universal Bank Cuts Compliance Cost

Here’s our latest success story: Leading Universal Bank Cuts Compliance Cost CRO Multiplies Conversion Of Website Visitors To Aadhaar Seeders To comply with the government’s “Aadhaar Seeding” regulation, this leading universal bank in India needed to seed bank accounts with customers’ Aadhaar details. In this pursuit, the bank executed an omnichannel campaign targeted at its … Read more