In this country we like choice and competitive markets while other countries will more readily legislate change for societal benefit. Any strategy to move consumers and businesses to more electronic payment alternatives must demonstrate high reliability, meet privacy requirements, be highly secure, and demonstrate clear benefits for users. I cannot overemphasize the importance of these four criteria because to generate momentum and remove regulatory hurdles where necessary, failure in any of these areas can result in stifling opposition. The competitive process will by its nature result in failures. We need to minimize the risk of experimentation and never risk systemic disruptions.
Progress is likely to be frustratingly slow compared to the pace of other technological change.
However, the rewards to success will be high with billions of dollars of potential cost reductions and huge marketing advantage to the truly innovative.