Over the past two decades, the Internet has entered our lives so tightly that we cannot imagine existence without access to online. Remember: back in the early 2000s, we did not even know that there was a kind of worldwide network that unites all the computers in the world, and today an ordinary user begins a real breakdown if he is not allowed to log into his account on social networks for several hours.
Such trends could not affect our perception of reality. If before it seemed wild to us that you can make money on the Web, make purchases and payments with other users using the Internet, today this is done by a significant part of all those who know what a computer is. This could not but affect the payment market, which also went on to a significant share online. We will talk about this today in this article.
The need for the development of electronic currencies
Electronic payment systems (or currencies) are payment instruments that are distinguished by anonymity, speed and simplicity. They are also called "electronic money systems." Their main feature is that they are conducted through the Internet and, accordingly, are recorded online. And in order to transfer funds to accounts within the same payment system, most often you do not even need to identify your identity - just open a wallet and replenish it with the required amount.
Due to the fact that the Internet has become much closer for each of us, part of the business activity of many people has moved into it. This led to the need to launch online payment tools. This function is performed today by electronic money.
Today, using online currencies you can make any purchase, order a service or exchange money with a counterparty from anywhere in the world. Restrictions on working with payment systems are minimal, and most of them are easy to remove after basic identification - loading a scan of a passport or other document in the established form.
Types of electronic currencies
In total, there are two large types of payment systems, depending on what is the basis for the circulation of funds within them. Such as Visa or MasterCard, refer to means of payment based on real smart cards. Another type is, for example, Yandex.Money electronic money related to the type of payment systems operating on the basis of so-called networks, that is, on the basis of virtual currency signs, which can later be transferred to the user's card. The most popular online currency in Russia - Webmoney, like the largest payment system in the world PayPal, is also a representative of network-based payment instruments.
Features
All electronic money has great advantages. As already noted, this is simplicity. In order to use the services of transferring and receiving funds, most often it’s enough to simply create an account based on a mobile phone and email account. Only some payment systems require additional verification of the account by sending copies of user documents. Such accessibility also has a flip side: it makes electronic money in Russia a threat from the point of view of national security, because, as you know, online currencies are often used to pay for criminal activities.
Another plus that electronic money has is instant payments. Despite the distance between counterparties, funds between their wallets are transferred in seconds.Again, the flip side of this advantage is the ability to withdraw funds from your wallet in an instant through fraudulent actions. For example, in 2010, a scandal broke out around the Webmoney system, which was caused by mass hacking of user wallets with a further transfer of funds. Fraudsters stole millions of rubles in this way. They acted with the help of viruses that attack the computers of the victims.
The first payment systems in the world
Today, the Internet has a large number of different payment systems that use electronic money. Some of them have appeared recently, while others are real old-timers of the market with a millionth customer audience. Some of these sites are multifunctional and universal for use, while the other is a highly specialized product for calculation in certain areas. There is a demand for both. In order to understand how the development of electronic money took place, it is important to recall that the first system - PayPal - appeared back in 1998. It was developed, inter alia, by billionaire Elon Musk, who is now known as the head of the Tesla company engaged in the production of electric cars.
Even then, in the USA, the opportunity arose to conduct settlements between users using bank cards served by Visa, MasterCard and American Express. This ensured the maximum reliability of the service and at the same time its stability and comfort in work. Today the company has acquired the world's largest online auction site eBay for settlements between users. Therefore, it is much easier to transfer electronic money from this system for the purchase of lots.
Payment systems in Russia
PayPal is also present in our country, but the system has not received such a distribution as in the USA. On the contrary, in the CIS countries, another, domestic payment system Webmoney is more popular. Working with it is much simpler, since the user does not have to necessarily bind his card. Moreover, if the American system appeared in Russia only in 2011, then the domestic analogue has been functioning here since 1998.
Webmoney
Due to its earlier presence on the market, the system occupies a leading position (in popularity), ahead of other types of electronic money. According to information from official representatives, as of 2015, over 28 million users are registered in the system. Between themselves, in one year, they conducted operations worth more than $ 17 billion.
Now the system is developing quite rapidly: there are several currencies (analogues of the dollar, euro, ruble, hryvnia, Belarusian ruble, gold and others); the Arbitration system has been developed for the consideration of disputes between persons, and there is also a special certification system.
Qiwi
Another popular service in Russia is Qiwi. This is a multifunctional payment system that allows you to make payments using various tools, including bank cards, online service, mobile applications and so on. Thanks to its special implementation, it can be used as a tool for paying off debts for utilities, paying for communications and so on. Although the site was launched only in 2007, the use of Qiwi electronic money has become so convenient that it has become quite popular in 15 countries.
Kiwi is now operating under the Visa brand, issuing cards for this system.
Yandex money
Another major player in the electronic payments market in Russia is Yandex.Money. As you can guess from the name, it was developed by Yandex, which manages the largest search engine in the CIS.
In 2014, about 18 million wallets were registered in the system, the lion's share of which belongs to users from Russia. There are even versions testifying to its leadership in our country.
Electronic money Yandex.Money is available to every user of the Yandex service.By going to your personal account, you can send and receive funds to your account, replenish your mobile, and also pay for utilities and communications. Also in the system you can issue a bank card tied to a wallet and send money to your WebMoney wallet.
Due to the active development, today the site can be used for settlements in many online stores, including at Chinese auctions. Also, according to the terms of cooperation with Microsoft, the Yandex.Money application is installed on Lumia smartphones as standard.
Other
Of course, there are many other systems for making payments on the Internet. However, we will not list these types of electronic money, since it would take too much time. In this article, we focused on the largest representatives of the market, while there are also a lot of smaller companies and brands, with which you can conveniently and quickly pay for certain services. Examples include RBC.Money, Comepay, Interkassa, Roboxchange, City pay, Money.mail.ru and others.
Exchange
It is important to understand that all these currencies are open for conversion among themselves. It is very convenient, and often even necessary. For example, if you receive a payment in Yandex.Money currency, but you need to pay in Webmoney, you can freely transfer funds with a minimum commission. You can do this in different ways, which we will discuss in this article.
The first is a direct exchange provided on the site of the payment system. An electronic money transfer in this way is as simple and fast as possible: just go to the page for withdrawal, enter the data and conduct the operation with the amount you need. However, there are two drawbacks associated with this technique. The first is the inaccessibility to conduct a direct exchange between some currencies. For example, it is not possible to withdraw Webmoney to a Qiwi wallet directly for some reason. The same goes for the reverse operation. There are a lot of currencies (for example, PerfectMoney) that do not lend themselves to direct withdrawal at all.
If you are faced with this situation, you should use electronic money exchangers. There are a lot of them on the Internet, and each one performs operations in different directions. In order to change the currency profitably, you just need to establish in which of them the exchange rate is more acceptable for you. This can be helped by services that monitor the rates offered by electronic money exchangers.
Finding them is very simple, while in each of them there is the possibility of sorting the list of exchange points depending on the direction with which you need to work. Using such services, you can save a lot.
Warnings
When working with electronic currencies, you need to remember that dishonest people can get access to your money, as in the case with a real wallet. Only if in the case of a thief on the street you can prevent the theft of funds, then on the Internet money can be debited from an online account even without your knowledge. Therefore, you need to remember basic security rules that seem elementary: do not work with unverified counterparties, do not trust your password, connect all sorts of additional wallet protection measures available in a particular system: SMS authorization, double password, and others. Although all this takes a little longer, it can save your money.
Plus, do not forget about anti-virus programs on your computer, which will prevent the Trojan and other malicious software from getting onto your PC.
Such advice, of course, seems banal and frivolous, but exactly as long as you yourself do not encounter scammers. And given the seriousness of training people stealing money from credit cards and online wallets, one should not allow an irresponsible attitude to the security of their funds.
How to replenish?
If you would like to use electronic money (Visa cards or just virtual currency - it doesn’t matter), first you need to get them. After all, after registration in the payment system, your account will be empty. This can be done by replenishing - depositing cash to the account using the payment terminal or through an exchange with another payment system. Using one of the proposed methods, remember to pay a commission. Most often, it is 1-3 percent, depending on the direction of exchange.
How to withdraw?
The withdrawal of funds that are in your account of a particular payment system can be carried out in the same way as replenishment - through an exchanger or direct withdrawal to the card (if the system allows it). For example, you can issue a bank card that will be fully synchronized with the account, as suggested by Yandex.Money. True, such an issue requires a one-time fee for the issue and, in addition, additional fees for maintenance.
What to spend on?
Of course, if you do not want to transfer money from one currency to another, you can spend it on anything. If we are talking about the largest payment systems, then they can be paid in any online store. This means that you can purchase anything by arranging delivery to the address of your residence.
If you do not want to buy anything, you can pay for Internet connection, mobile communications or utilities. Fortunately, even this can now be done without leaving your computer.
Finally, even options such as charity, investment, or opening deposits - all this has become available to the Internet user! Therefore, if there is an amount in your account and you do not know what to do with it, think about your future or other people! At the very least, this is a more sensible and possibly useful use of funds than just losing them in an online casino. You will be surprised, but many people do just that. This is addictive, because if in real life all casinos are supposedly prohibited by law, then on the Internet you have unlimited freedom of action.
Trends and Prospects
It’s hard to say where the market for electronic money payments is going. Now we see the popularization of this segment of online commerce by increasing the number of people who get used to this form of payment. A person who at least once paid in this way gets used to the comfort of instant payments and sits down on them. This means that in the next few years we will see a total transition to online payments, simplification of the procedure for transferring funds and an increase in the speed of money transfers.
As for the prospects, it is very difficult to predict electronic money payments and their development. On the one hand, today it seems that it is impossible to come up with a new product in the field of Internet payments, since everything that is now already satisfies the user to the maximum. However, one cannot exclude the possibility of the appearance of some revolutionary new product that can have a serious impact on the e-commerce market. Just to say that it will be very difficult, perhaps we are talking about the development of contactless payments or payments via mobile. Or maybe technologies will soon appear that combine different electronic currencies into one in such a way as to get rid of commission payments once and for all.
