Banks, Financial Services, Forum, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Technology
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Friday, 23.08.2024, 07:01
Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will change all industries
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The chief guest of the evening J. Oksanen represented airBaltic – three years ago it was the
first airline in the world to start accepting bitcoins as payment for airline
tickets. “Now about 100 tickets a month are purchased by using a
cryptocurrency. The number is not big, however it sets tendencies,” said J.
Oksanen, Senior Vice-president in E-commerce, Marketing and Sales, when looking
at the statistical data. “In the future, it is anticipated that blockchain
technology will make life easier, as companies will be able to exchange
information much more quickly. All loyalty programmes will be available in one
digital wallet and, for instance, it will be possible to use the accumulated
points in one time at the airport.” J. Oksanen also believes that the
blockchain technology could finally introduce changes for the industry players
in the unclear operation of aggregators and global distribution systems that
eat up a big part of the profit of airlines and hotel chains.
The Maxima chain of supermarkets differs from others due to the fact that it offers
different services in addition to the opportunity to buy everything needed. I.
Svilans emphasised that the widely discussed payment services directive PSD2
will change many industries. “We also have to look wider. Possibly, in the
future, a supermarket will be a physical place under a roof, with heated
premises, staff and a logistical centre, which will probably perform many
functions that now we only sneer at, or are not aware of. For instance, it is
theoretically possible to deliver a child to their grandmother, located several
dozens of kilometres away, by using the already existing system of logistics.”
Certainly. Maxima also feels interest on the part of startups, which are ready
to offer different solutions. In the future, it will definitely take place much
more often. “However, startups have to take into account that big companies are
slow, look at new solutions suspiciously and have large bureaucratic apparatus.
We have to be convinced that changes will not affect our operation in a
negative way. Therefore, those who introduce innovations, must be able to reply
to very simple questions – can we recharge all bank terminals in the entire
chain of stores during one night? And can we really offer something that gives
additional value to the company?” emphasised I. Svilвns.
The representative of Printify J. Berdigans also faced a situation where a big
company was unpredictable. “In the USA, we had four months of negotiations on
cooperation with a big corporation. We had gone as far as the conclusion of an
agreement, when, all of a sudden, one of the company representatives informed
us that there would be no agreement. All of this hard work was in vain.” J.
Berdigans, in the fintech area, was positively surprised by a recent
announcement from Estonia about issuing the Estcoin cryptocurrency. “If
Estonians make it, they will be far ahead of many countries in their
development.”
Rietumu Bank, the chief partner and supporter of the Rietumu FinTech Club
discussions cycles, deals with cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions on a
daily basis. We constantly think about how to use these solutions more
efficiently. “The bank is open for cooperation with startup companies.
Certainly, they have to accept our conditions – to be ready to work with the Rietumu Bank data, in our premises and
with account of our payment conditions. There are no other obstacles to joint
cooperation and a joint search for solutions in the fintech industry,” said
Senior Vice-president of Rietumu Bank E. Dugaev.
Rietumu FinTech Club is a meeting place for representatives of financial
technologies, who intend to discuss the most topical tendencies and share their
experience. Three successful meetings is confirmation that the industry of
financial technologies is very interesting and prospective for new business
enthusiasts. This initiative is currently being implemented by the Latvian
Startup Association Startin.LV in cooperation with Rietumu Bank.