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Education

Crypto key management and interfaces

Storing and managing private keys in crypto is notoriously
Legal ease: difficult. Remember, storing cardholder data was a huge
problem that was solved with contemporary technology
and a flurry of competing services. There is now an
opportunity to do the same in support of crypto. In simple
terms, this means services to help businesses manage
their crypto assets and integrate that with accounting. For
example, a restaurant that accepts bitcoin should be able to
Payment technology reconcile those receipts with tax reporting and remittance
as well as other bookkeeping functions.
licensing – Part 3: Web 3.0, Web 3.0 and metaverse payments

It's time for a payments provider to develop a POS
blockchain, decentralized terminal for the metaverse—one that works in Roblox,
Meta and other virtual worlds. This is not rocket science,
and it can be done in a way that protects the developer's
technology intellectual property, as well as in a way that makes the
service licensable and profitable.
By Adam Atlas There is no need to be spooked by the metaverse; it's just
Attorney at Law new permutations of the internet with a more interesting
interface. The promise of Web 3.0 is that consumers
ith Meta hiring 10,000 people to build the will engage with the internet, metaverse and other
metaverse and VCs eager to invest in Web entertainment forums using digital assets that they own,
3.0, decentralized and blockchain innova- control and commercialize. This activity is rife with
W tions, I've developed hypotheses on the opportunities for payments integration and automation—
future of payments technology licensing. The first article opportunity to write software that will be deployed to
of this series covered building for licensure; the second those realms the way virtual terminals, payment links
covered commercialization. This article explores possible and payment apps are deployed in the "real" world today.
futures for this kind of technology.
Crypto smart contracts: Meta scrapped its stablecoin payment project and (for
Open source payment machines now) will fall back on traditional payment rails with
which traditional payments providers and developers are
From an intellectual property licensing perspective, crypto entirely comfortable.
blockchains, such as Ethereum, are not an ideal framework
because they are mostly transparent. For example, you A number of states are now updating company law
might decide to develop a payment smart contract that in their states to allow for companies to be created and
can be deployed by a merchant to post a pay-in address, administered entirely in digital form. This means you
receive payment in ethereum, or split the ethereum for the could have a company that really does exist, for the most
merchant and its sales representative or supplier. part, entirely in the metaverse. A law office full of dusty
company minute books is finally going to be a thing of the
It takes only a base-level of blockchain contract writing past.
knowledge to copy a smart contract. Ethereum and a Consumers will always need credit
number of other blockchains that host smart contracts
are mostly transparent. That transparency is an asset— A number of payments innovations such as crypto, prepaid
because it's hard to hide where value has been sent and digital cards and discounted international remittance
what formula was applied to allocate value. make payments easier—but no amount of innovation is
likely to do away with consumers' voracious appetite for
However, the transparency is an open door for copycats to credit.
recycle your hard work of developing the contract. Imagine
a POS device that came with a complete set of blueprints People want to spend money they do not have. Similar to
not just for the device, but also for all of its electronics and people forever needing food and water, the potentially
software—that's a crypto smart contract. endless desire for credit is something to perhaps bank
on into the future of payments technology licensing. The
In terms of building long-term value, crypto smart methods of assessing creditworthiness may change, the
contracts are of limited utility because the barrier to entry creativity of credit products may increase, but they are
for competitors is nominal. here to stay.

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