The Death Of Currency Exchanges: Traveling With Digital Payments

Put down your wallet, pick up your suitcase and get ready to spend more time abroad without having to reach into your pocket to spend a dime! Okay, so we can’t exactly show you how to travel the world for free, but we can give you a few neat ways to pay for things without using banknotes and coins.

Thanks to modern technology, savvy travelers can now fly from place to place and contribute to the local economy using a combination of hardware and smart software. One of the biggest concerns for anyone traveling to a foreign country is money. Aside from the hassle of physically changing money from one currency to another and competing with fluctuating rates, security is always an issue. When you exchange a large sum of money, there’s always a sense of anxiety that comes with having to store it somewhere safe.

Fortunately, thanks to some clever innovations, you don’t have to carry cash anymore. With this in mind, here are our top three digital payment options you can use when you’re off on your travels!

1. Apple Pay

The leader in contactless mobile payment methods, Apple Pay essentially turns your iOS device into a debit/credit card. By entering your card details into the device and authorizing it with your bank, you can then use your phone to pay for a variety of goods.

Although some would question how secure it is to have your card linked to your phone, it’s important to remember that a transaction can only been completed with your fingerprint using the iPhone’s fingerprint reader.

When you’re in a foreign country and don’t want to hand over cash, you can hold up your phone to a contactless card reader and complete the transaction. Although this isn’t possible in every country, as long as your bank offers services in the visiting country, which is a service Barclays’ Barclaycard offers, then Apple Pay is a viable option.

2. Bitcoin

If you’re frustrated by currency conversion rates, Bitcoin is the answer. In a nutshell, Bitcoins are made, or “mined,” online and traded online. Moreover, the value of a Bitcoin is universal and it’s the members of the network, and not that of a bank, which verify each transaction.

These dynamics have made Bitcoin a popular currency with people who spend money online. Businesses accepting bitcoin payments skip the currency conversion step entirely, settling transactions directly in crypto instead of routing through traditional banking rates. For example, in the online casino industry, it used to be the case that people would have to convert their currency to dollars in order to play. Today, however, players can check out reviews of the latest games via BitcoinPokies, make a Bitcoin deposit and play without being subject to conversion charges.

The same is also true with brick-and-mortar establishments, which makes it possible to travel the world and pay for goods and services without exchanging your native currency. As long as you have Bitcoins and the merchant accepts it as a form of payment, you can pay for anything you like without any cash ever needing to change hands.

3. Invisible Payments

What if taking out a card or phone and waving it over a terminal is too much of a hassle? Well, as a traveler, you needn’t reach for the nearest device thanks to the power of invisible payments. Probably the most famous example of an invisible payment system in action is Uber.

The $50 billion taxi-style service pairs car owners and travelers through a clever little app that not only allows the rider to book, track and rate their ride, but pay for it as well. After linking your bankcard to Uber app, the software is capable of logging and recording your journey so that you don’t have to physically pay for it.

Once you’ve arrived at your destination, all you have to do is tap a button in the app and that’s it! At this point the system will calculate the cost of the journey and debit the appropriate amount of money from your account. In addition to offering a fast, efficient and safe method of payment, invisible payments are great because they create a clear chain of communication. All transactions are digitally recorded, meaning you can keep track of your payments in a much easier way. What’s more, because everything is linked to your bank, invisible payments can be made in any currency.

Paying for goods and services needn’t be a burden in the modern day. Indeed, as we move ever closer to a cashless world, the way we pay will not only get less cumbersome, but more efficient and more secure. Although the current systems might not be accessible in every shop in every country, the seeds of change have already been planted, which means it shouldn’t be long before you can ditch your foreign currency forever.