Governments around the world are realising that digital is the investable future of money, Nigel Green of deVere Group has said.

Mr Green believes that amid a flurry of global financial innovation, blockchain is set to “irreversibly” shake up the global payments system – for the better.

“Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are reaching the point of critical mass, the moment at which a new way of doing things crosses a threshold and takes hold,” Mr Green said on Tuesday (1 February).

While the move towards digital transactions had been taking place for years, it has been accelerated by the pandemic.

“For this reason, and because the likes of bitcoin are out of their control, they’re in a race to launch digital currencies of their own, fully aware that digital currencies in our digital era simply make sense,” Mr Green explained.

Noting a growing demand for digital assets from government and their agencies, institutional and retail investors, Mr Green tipped that what will really drive the rise of digital payment will be harnessing the power of blockchain.

“Recent research being carried out by the Bank of Estonia, amongst others, shows that ongoing developments of the already pioneering blockchain technology will empower a payment system that’s more powerful and faster than the card payment and instant payment systems currently used globally today,” Mr Green said.

“In addition, it was found that payments made with this tech used less energy than credit card payments by a factor of 1,400.”

While admitting that it may take “five to 10 years” for blockchain to reach the ultimate maturity, Mr Green is confident that its “seismic influence will change how we pay and how we do business forever”.