Writer - Dr. Tim Thomas is a senior copywriter with many years of global experience writing articles across a wide range of industries.

As technology advances, so do many industries. As the current trends towards all things digital driven continue, tech- nology has now become ubiquitous. Think of your daily routine, and that of billions of others around the world. When you do that, I am sure you will realize that tech- nology is something that impacts, guides, directs, and influences us each and every day, especially in the developed world. As billions of people continue to use the internet each day, and industries harness the power of technology to change their businesses and, in some cases, the world, it is easy to see how technology is so important.

From the first contactless payment for our morning coffee to checking the news on our smartphones during the commute, spending our lunchtimes browsing the latest social media updates to shopping on the way home via an online order, technology is our constant companion. Within this ongoing stream of technological development, digital developments are dramatically impacting the world of finance, both domestically and more globally. Consider the way we pay for things, as cash becomes less used and daily digital financial transactions increase quickly, and even digital currencies become more used.

This really has become widespread, with people from all walks of life adopting digital currencies - we’re even seeing them in supermarkets and real estate. They’ve almost reached “mainstream” in some industries too; gaming has been a quick adopter of all things digital (which makes sense), and things like crypto online games are becoming more numerous. Some games are just geared up to accept crypto payments, while others incorporate crypto into their very fabric, allowing you to earn and spend within the universes they create. With these advancements, it is clear that our move towards digital currencies is becoming more of a reality for both leisure and business purposes.

So how far have we come in terms of technology driving financial matters? How has the move towards digital transactions and cryptocurrencies affected business, personal finance, how we pay, where we pay, and indeed with what we pay, and how far is this transformation along in terms of making previously niche payment methods, such as BitCoin or Ethereum, more mainstream money matters? Let’s take a look at some of these questions; I think they are worth exploring.

Cash, Consumers, Crypto and Currency: Tech and Money Go Hand In Glove

Money makes the world go around, as the old saying goes, but what does money mean to people these days? I do not mean, to be clear, how much it means to them - I mean what we think of when we talk about money, payments, transactions, and all things finance-related. We used to live in a world where cash was king. For many of the younger generations who have grown up with technology-driven transactions, this may seem odd, but it is and was true. Consumers and their fiscal behavior have, of course, changed. Gone are the days of seeing “cash only” signs in many places, as more and more cash-free establishments are harnessing technology to streamline operations. And in the online space, there’s no choice - online games can really only take credit or debit cards, unless they’re set up to accept cryptocurrency (which is becoming increasingly common!).

We are now living in a world where technology is driving our financial activity in many, many ways, and doing so in a global sense. To put it another way, tech and money now go hand in glove, or perhaps hand in wallet, if you will forgive the pun. Of course, consumers still use cash, but they are now also turning to digital wallets and, increasingly, cryptocurrencies as digital tech genuinely shapes fiscal behavior around the world. As blockchain technology advancements become more sophisticated and it gets more widely accepted, the use of cryptocurrencies is becoming more commonplace, perhaps even mainstream. It’s no wonder it’s being adopted by gamers and other online users everywhere.

Thanks to the fact that blockchain allows and creates a decentralized ledger of transactions across a peer-to-peer network, consumers using this method of payment can confirm transactions without the need for a central clearing authority. In short, this allows anonymity and the absence of a central financial institution to authorize or record the payment. If ever there was a case where tech is being used in the fiscal world to protect the anonymity of users, ironically just as cash did in the past, then this is perhaps the epitome of that. As I said, tech and money are more and more inseparable, and as cryptocurrencies and digital transactions go from strength to strength, that is likely to continue and grow as the norm.

Money Moves: Digital Payment Tech And Contactless Transactions Helping Cryptocurrencies Prosper

As I mentioned earlier, it is sometimes funny to see how cash transactions have diminished so much as technology impacts finance around the world. It may be that our financial transaction activities are being driven by these technological advances, or perhaps consumer demand for more digital money options is driving the advances - it is a chicken and egg question, to a certain degree. Whichever side of that you may place your answer on, one thing is unequivocal: technology and digital developments are bringing cryptocurrencies more towards the mainstream, just as contactless payments took cash out of many peoples' daily fiscal usage trends.

With consumers getting more used to online payments and cashless worlds, cryptocurrencies are, to many, a natural progression, especially for those who want a less centralized transaction system for privacy and data protection, for example. With Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other cryptocurrencies currently in use in a plethora of places (like online gaming, supermarkets, and even the real estate industry), more people are embracing the idea of digital assets as opposed to traditional payment processes.