How Payments Will Power A New World Of Globalization And Gigs

As recently as two years ago, hundreds of thousands of Chinese patients and students were flocking to the U.S. That number has surely climbed (steeply) since that last official count, especially if Flywire and UnionPay have anything to say about it. And though the world of commerce, healthcare and education are getting smaller (thanks to the power of digital payments), the world of work is getting bigger and more dependent on building faster payments. It’s easy to get swept up in the digital payments wave — given all it powers — but it bears remembering that with trillions of dollars in value floating around in good old-fashioned (and still much beloved in some segments) paper money, cash payments need innovation, too.

800,000: The number of Chinese students who studied abroad in 2016.

500,000: The number of Chinese citizens who traveled to the U.S. for medical care in 2016.

31 percent: The share of millennial gig workers who will turn down a job if they cannot be paid in their preferred manner.

3.7 percent: The share of GDP contributed by the gig economy.

$8.1 Trillion: The value of the amount of cash being used around the world today.