During the last week of March, David Birch headed to Berlin with Team CHYP for Merchant Payment Ecosystems 2023 and what an event it was this year!
“#TeamCHyp had a blast in Berlin. Chairing, moderating, presenting, hosting, laughing and learning. We spoke about #payments #identity #metaverse #gambling #gaming and #mobility. Here’s to the next year of developments in the payment ecosystem.”
David took part in the opening session with Anna Maj and then moderated the opening panel: “Blurring boundaries. Experts discuss forward-looking trends that will likely shape our industry and the implications for the ecosystem.”
The next day he was back on stage twice for 2 different panels:
“Payments of tomorrow – The Metaverse” during which the panelists (David and Ilia Dragan of Saltedge and Faheem Bakshi of Kinguin) and moderator Francesco Burelli of Arkwright Consulting explored:
- Metaverse & Augmented reality – the next frontier for payments
- Elements of the metaverse: Web3, Defi, Crypto, Digital Currency, CBDC, etc.
- How can Merchant Payments Ecosystem interact with Metaverse Web3?
- Digital identity in Metaverse / Virtual reality
“The next stage for payments: Digital Currencies and CBDCs”
Angela Yore of PR firm Sky Parlour who moderated the panel (other panelists included Jerome Ajdenbaum of IDEMIA, Luka Planinc of GoCrypto, Daniel McLean of European Central Bank, and Andrew Saks of eCredits).summed it up as follows:
“I had the pleasure of moderating the digital currencies and CBDCs panel at the Merchant Payments Ecosystem last week. It proved to be lively with some conflicting viewpoints, making for an exciting and thought-provoking discussion.
There were several important takeaways – not least that digital currencies and their future is contentious! Key points included:
📍 The future of payments is around choice – the provision of alternatives, not replacements
📍 CBDCs (and other digital currencies) are closer than we think – merchants need to be engaged with these alternative payment methods to keep their finger on the pulse
📍 CBDCs have strong potential for financial and digital inclusion
📍 Privacy is a key consideration for CBDC projects and other digital currencies
📍 Stablecoins have strong potential as they remove the high volatility of cryptocurrencies”
On the last day, David was back onstage to moderate the closing session with panelists Peter O’Halloran of Fiserv, Christopher Purdie of Receiptable, Matteo Gamba of Wayfair, Christophe Bourbier of Thunes and Laura McCracken of Accenture. They discussed:
- What are the key learnings from MPE 2023, what will 2023 bring to the European merchant payments?
- Which technologies and innovations are best positioned to disrupt the industry?
- How to prepare for the new generations of customers, what would be their expectations and how to fulfil them?
- Are payments resilient to macroeconomic factors? What impact does the current situation have on decisions in payments?