# Payments Payments are the lifeblood of an economy. Without frictionless and low-cost digital payments, commerce is bottlenecked. When payments are largely cash-based without viable digital alternatives, 1. **Remote commerce and eCommerce suffers** (particularly in the face of physical restrictions or remoteness barriers such as those imposed by COVID); and 2. **Physical commerce faces higher frictions** and challenges (loss of value due to lack of availability of exact change, increased likelihood of robberies/theft, etc). While digital payments are not new, a DPI approach is distinct from existing types of digital payments. It creates **inclusion, innovation, and unprecedented scale of access** that allows for diverse user experiences (via smartphones, feature phones, or without phones). To determine whether the payments system in your country is operating as a Digital Public Infrastructure, simply answer this: is a majority of the population in my country (particularly those with lower incomes) able to access and regularly use a reliable means of digital payment at affordable cost? If not, and a payments system is used only by the elite sections of a country while much of the population prefers/relies on cash, **there is scope in your country for a DPI transformation in payments** that could catalyse the digital economy. Specifically, we explore 5 powerful payments interventions to trigger a DPI transformation: 1. [Interoperable QR Code (P2P/P2M Payments)](https://docs.cdpi.dev/technical-notes/digital-payment-networks/interoperable-qr-code) 2. [Interoperable Authentication (P2P/P2M Payments)](https://docs.cdpi.dev/technical-notes/digital-payment-networks/interoperable-authentication-p2p-p2m) 3. [Financial Address Mapper](https://g2pconnect.cdpi.dev/protocol/interfaces/beneficiary-management/mapper-architecture) (G2P Social Benefit/Cash transfer Payments) 4. [Cash in Cash Out (CiCO)](https://docs.cdpi.dev/technical-notes/digital-payment-networks/cash-in-cash-out-cico) for Interoperable Agents in Cash Withdrawal 5. Interoperable Bill Payments Protocol All types of transactions, whether between people, businesses, and/or government, can be powered by the same protocol that enables interoperable payments! The protocol is agnostic to payment device, currency, type of transaction, etc.