Table A.4: Technology Sophistication in Payment

|**Criteria**|**Exchange**<br>**of**<br>**goods**<br>**(Barter**<br>**Exchange**<br>**Plat-**<br>**forms)**|**Cash(Physical**<br>**Currency)**|**Cheque,**<br>**voucher,**<br>**or**<br>**bank wire at the**<br>**branch**<br>**(Bank**<br>**Cheque)**|**Prepaid**<br>**card,**<br>**Debit**<br>**card,**<br>**or**<br>**Credit**<br>**card**<br>**(Visa)**|**Online**<br>**or**<br>**elec-**<br>**tronic**<br>**payment**<br>**through a bank**<br>**wire (SWIFT)**|**Online**<br>**payment**<br>**through**<br>**plat-**<br>**form (PayPal)**|**Virtual or Cryp-**<br>**tocurrency (Bit-**<br>**coin)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Functionality**|Facilitating<br>the<br>direct<br>exchange<br>of goods and ser-<br>vices without using<br>money|Direct payment us-<br>ing coins and ban-<br>knotes|Payment<br>through<br>written<br>orders<br>to<br>a bank to pay a<br>specifc<br>amount<br>from<br>a<br>person’s<br>account|Electronic payment<br>method<br>allowing<br>payment<br>directly<br>from a linked bank<br>account<br>or<br>credit<br>line|Secure<br>interna-<br>tional<br>fnancial<br>messaging<br>for<br>transferring<br>funds<br>between banks|Online<br>payment<br>system<br>for<br>send-<br>ing<br>and<br>receiving<br>money, purchasing<br>goods and services|Decentralized<br>dig-<br>ital<br>currency<br>for<br>peer-to-peer trans-<br>actions|
|**Integration**|No integration|No integration|Basic<br>integration<br>with banking sys-<br>tems for processing<br>cheques|Wide<br>integration<br>with<br>merchants,<br>banks,<br>and<br>pay-<br>ment processors|Extensive<br>integra-<br>tion<br>with<br>global<br>banking systems|Seamless<br>inte-<br>gration<br>with<br>e-commerce<br>plat-<br>forms,<br>banking<br>systems, and other<br>fnancial tools|Good<br>integration<br>with digital wallets,<br>exchanges,<br>and<br>some<br>e-commerce<br>platforms|
|**Automation**|No automation|No automation|Limited<br>automa-<br>tion;<br>manual<br>processing required|High level of au-<br>tomation for trans-<br>action approval and<br>record-keeping|High level of au-<br>tomation for fund<br>transfers and trans-<br>action tracking|High<br>level<br>of<br>automation<br>for<br>transaction<br>pro-<br>cessing,<br>payment<br>notifcations,<br>and<br>record-keeping|High level of au-<br>tomation for trans-<br>action<br>validation<br>and record-keeping<br>via<br>blockchain<br>technology|
|**Rank**|7|6|5|4|3|2|1|
|**Reason**<br>**for**<br>**Ranking**|Basic functionality<br>with no integration<br>or automation, the<br>least<br>sophisticated<br>method in the con-<br>text of payments|Simple<br>functional-<br>ity with no integra-<br>tion or automation,<br>making it the least<br>sophisticated|Limited functional-<br>ity and integration,<br>with minimal au-<br>tomation,<br>making<br>it less sophisticated<br>than newer meth-<br>ods|Widely<br>accepted<br>with<br>robust<br>in-<br>tegration<br>and<br>automation,<br>al-<br>though slightly less<br>sophisticated<br>than<br>online platforms|Strong<br>integration<br>within global bank-<br>ing,<br>with<br>reliable<br>automation,<br>but<br>more<br>suited<br>for<br>large transactions|High functionality,<br>broad<br>integration<br>across<br>multiple<br>platforms, and high<br>automation in pro-<br>cessing payments|High<br>automation,<br>but integration is<br>less<br>widespread<br>and functionality is<br>limited to certain<br>platforms|
|**Average Costs**|Transaction<br>fees,<br>varies|No cost|Bank fees, varies|Merchant<br>fees<br>(1.5%-3%), annual<br>fees ($0-$100)|Bank fees, varies|2.9% + $0.30 per<br>transaction|Transaction<br>fees<br>(varies),<br>network<br>fees|
|**Launch Year**|N/A|N/A|N/A|1958|1977|1998|2009|
|**ChatGPT**<br>**rank-**<br>**ing**|1|2|2.5|3.5|4|4.5|5|
|**Estimate time in**<br>**a task** 4 hours|2.5 hours|2 hours|1 hour|30 minutes|30 minutes|12 minutes||

Source: The table draws upon various sources of information including desk research, and websites of various companies including Bitcoin, PayPal, SWIFT, and VISA. *CHATGPT estimates the time for processing payments, following similar characteristics of a given firm. The prompt for these estimates and CHATGPT ranking is available in the appendix.