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description: P2P, P2M, B2B, G2P, and P2G.
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# 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&#x20;
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 in it they creates **inclusion, innovation, and unprecedented scale of access** that allows for diverse user experiences (over smartphone, feature phones, or no-phones).&#x20;

To ask whether the payments in your country is operating as a Digital Public Infrastructure, simply answer this: is a majority of the population in my country, (particularly those of lower incomes) able to access and regularly use a reliable means of digital payment at affordable cost to them? 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.&#x20;

In particular, we explore 5 powerful payments interventions to trigger a DPI transformation:&#x20;

1. [Interoperable QR Code (P2P/P2M Payments)](digital-payment-networks/interoperable-qr-code)
2. [Interoperable Authentication (P2P/P2M Payments)](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)&#x20;
4. [Cash in Cash Out (CiCO)](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 allows for interoperable payments! The protocol is agnostic to payment device, currency, type of transaction etc.

<div><figure><img src="https://697430317-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FPSpwXyMDD6nT6RU93idI%2Fuploads%2FJzXsZWRrVd5G2sIqSHxz%2F2.png?alt=media&#x26;token=e33230c8-e4f7-4aeb-b6bf-4112221b6b06" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>a protocol which is agnostic ...</p></figcaption></figure> <figure><img src="https://697430317-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FPSpwXyMDD6nT6RU93idI%2Fuploads%2FV1PSFIAHQGB00vkdqHQa%2F1.png?alt=media&#x26;token=b2101f89-a0be-4745-b69f-757a1d0c5773" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>... powers payments which are interoperable! </p></figcaption></figure></div>
