The Future of Transactions: A Study

In January, I began studying disruptive technologies in the Financial Sector. The most interesting areas I found were in Lending, Transactions and Alternate Currencies. After completing a high-level baseline forecast and several future concepts of those areas in May, I decided to explore the Future of Transactions in more detail this fall. 

Transaction is an area to watch with the changes in the global financial markets and mobile technology trends. My own participation in non-hard currency transactions like the gift, barter and swap economies along with tracking the stock markets, global financial meltdown, gold and commodity price fluctuation leads me to believe there is a possibility of transaction disruption.  Much like the slow but eventual creative/destruction blog publishing platforms had on traditional publishing.

Last week, I launched a public survey asking the question: How will we pay for things in the future? The response has been great with almost 200 participants. I plan to use the data to create multiple future scenarios and will share the data and these scenarios in a report in a few months. 

To everyone who has taken the survey: THANK YOU! You're really blown my mind. There were several technologies and ideas I specifically left _off_ the survey (didn't want to go too future out there, ;) ) that several folks wrote in. Thanks for validating the viability of those ideas. I hope you're as excited about the future as I am. Let's co-create it! Oh wait, we already are. ;)

Big thanks and shout out to everyone who forward the survey, via email, twitter, FB and word of mouth. Kudos to the following folks who RTed or forward the survey via Twitter. Check em out and follow them. 

• therefore (did you hear my silent thank you?)
• helenyung
• iftf (The Institute for the Future)
• openp2pdesign
• cole_tucker
• artbrock (Extra thanks!)
• metacurrency
• jerrymichalski
• umairh (Thanks!)
• CoCreatr
• AnalPoet
• suzieis
• poweressence
• gavinho
• mrosas (Hi Margaret!)
• nuance_intel
• Firqby
• smokeymtnholler
• ydn
• And to those of you who forwarded it via email. THANK YOU.

I will be expanding and extending my Impossible Futures and look forward to sharing them with you in a few months.

In the meantime, the survey will be open until November 15th.  Please feel free to continue to share it until then.

See you in our co-created Future!

H arches driving
Originally uploaded by heathervescent

Comments

[mkat]

I saw this event happening in NYC and thought about your post.

http://www.artbarter.co.uk/about-art-barter.html

I love the idea of a gift/bartering model and wonder if an ecosystem can be sustained rather than only having events. I look fwd to your findings.