I was thinking about the power and control that comes from creating your own crypto coins/currency (being able to control the numbers in circulation, set its value (to some degree), and control how it’s used). Then it dawned on me why Razer offered to develop a unified e-payment system for Singapore back then.
Besides the public relations aspect of this offer: creating goodwill and raising the public profile of the company…
Perhaps when people use their payment system, spending habits can be tracked. Similar to how Mastercard or Visa tracks our spending. Such data is valuable because it helps them profile their users and gain more data on spending habits, how often something is bought, how much, etc. Cyclical data (like the amount of money spent during the Christmas season; on what electronic goods, etc) can also inform the business/marketing strategies of the company as to the trends/habits of consumer spending.
Furthermore, it means that people will have to download the RazerPay app and keep it on their phones. This creates opportunities for the company to send out promotional information to the public. And you can’t delete the app if you depend on it to make convenient payments.
Despite the optimistic start, the Razer Pay and Card was discontinued this year (2021) after struggling to be picked up for two years. Cited in the article, the reasons for Razer Pay’s failure to take off were: a competitive epayments landscape, offers that weren’t attractive enough, some bugs in its app, and a failure to get a digital banking license in Singapore.
I think another reason could also be that it couldn’t win over the everyday retail market — like the hawkers, the minimarts, the wet markets, etc. It has to offer convenience to these business users too, perhaps help them get their profits fast from the system, smoothen the payment process (tap a card against an NFC-enabled phone), or maybe even linked to their inventory systems to help them track it. The users that have the most impact or influence on the pickup of the epayment system are such businesses, rather than the end-consumer.
Make your words mean something 