Credit Suisse's James Disney: Bitcoin and Apple Pay Hold Future Promise for Mobile Payments

Since Apple unveiled its mobile payment solution, Apple Pay, five months ago, there has been no shortage of debate of its value relative to other payment systems.

Indeed, Apple's solution has gotten people to think more about payment systems and inspired a Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term arms race with competing solutions. Merchants and consumers are ultimately the winners.

Speaking to Trish Regan of Bloomberg, Credit Suisse's James Disney explained that it's still early on for Apple Pay and it holds much future potential.

Disney is the co-head of Credit Suisse's software investment banking unit, and has overseen over $50 billion in M&A activity and 50 IPOs. He continued:

"There really has been more change in the last 4-5 years in payments than there has been in the last 4-5 decades. And certainly the last 4-5 months with Apple Pay. When they flipped that switch on, it really brought the attention of people in the mainstream: what was mobile payments- your ability to use your phone to pay for things in the store."

Regan then mentioned one of Apple Pay's potential competitors, Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term, and pointed to more recent investment in the digital currency space from figures like Tim Draper. Said Disney:

"Look, they're all painted with the same broad brush. It is different. That's a digital cryptocurrency, the same way the US dollar is a currency or the euro is a currency. Can it be used for with a mobile device to pay for things in a store? It certainly could. I think it's still early days. I think it'll be hard to see a lot of impact on Apple's earnings with Apple Pay."

Apple Pay critics have argued that the system, albeit a more secure way of transacting, is simply an additional layer on top of the existing credit card and banking networks. Bitcoin, however, removes these layers and their associated fees from the equation.