Who will benefit from the age of digital money?

Money represented by paper and coin is on its way out. The era of digital money is here.

Interestingly, the move to digital money is not being driven by big companies and big governments. Instead, the push is coming from those with less traditional power in financial circles. In some developing countries, e-money is taking the role of standard currency and users are moving away from traditional paper and coin. In the consumer-to-consumer space, digital currencies are gaining acceptance and popularity. Governments in developed countries, by contrast, are not as eager to embrace the bitcoin and other digital monies. In my opinion, this will be a losing position, since the Internet connects all of us and trends rarely stay in one country.

This is an opportunity for e-commerce companies. For us at Rakuten, we are one of a few companies that has created a very strong ecosystem combining a variety of businesses such as financial services, media, and e-commerce. The challenge to companies like ours is now to be creative and come up with ways to help consumers and businesses engage in digital commerce and take advantage of the benefits digital commerce can offer.

The digital money trend will reach all around the globe, into every aspect of commerce. Only closed economies will be immune to it. The rest of the world will need to participate, or be left out of the commerce system. There was a time in human history when coins came to replace barter and when paper money came to stand in for coins. Today, we are in the next evolution of money. Who will want to sit on the sidelines?

This article is published in collaboration with LinkedIn. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Hiroshi Mikitani is CEO, Rakuten Inc.

Image: A customer withdraws 500 Estonian kroon ($40) from an ATM in Tallinn. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins