We have clearly entered into a new world in terms of financial technology that is slowly but surely altering the landscape of banking, payments systems, and even perhaps legal tender currencies. All this technological innovation is filled with buzzwords and companies trying to become “the next big thing” that changes the world in a truly meaningful way.

We have “Bitcoin”, “Blockchain”, “Distributed Ledger”, “CBDC” (Central Bank Digital Currencies) as new buzzwords that have popped up in recent years. Lately we see even newer efforts to try and innovate to improve “blockchain” (see Hashgraph here). I believe there are now over 1,000 private “cryptocurrencies” vying for capital in the marketplace. 

Right now there is so much happening so quickly in terms of competing ideas and technologies, it can quickly become overwhelmingly confusing to most people who are not technological experts and just want a simple, inexpensive, and secure way to transact their business with a currency that holds it value over time. 

We have covered this topic pretty well here, but as it can be quite confusing and things keep changing constantly (funny how innovation works that way), I thought perhaps an analogy that most people can relate to might be helpful to see where things stand right now. With that in mind, let’s use the old Sony Betamax vs. VHS technology battle as our guide. 

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Readers from my generation will quickly recall this technology battle. Younger readers might find it an interesting footnote in history that illustrates how there is a constant technological struggle to gain universal adoption that really never ends. Even in this case, after the VHS technology for video players won out in the marketplace, it was eventually replaced by DVD’s, then Blue Ray etc. But perhaps this process can help us understand the ongoing technology battles in the fintech arena?

First, here is how the Betamax vs. VHS battle played out as described in Sony Betamax vs. VHS technology battle on the topic:

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Videotape format war

“The first video cassette recorder (VCR) to become available was the U-matic system, released in September 1971. U-matic was designed for commercial or professional television production use, and was not affordable or user-friendly for home videos or home movies. The first consumer-grade VCR to be released was the Philips N1500 VCR format in 1972, followed in 1975 by Sony’s Betamax. This was quickly followed by the competing VHS format from JVC, and later by Video 2000from Philips. Subsequently, the Betamax–VHS format war began in earnest. Other competitors, such as the Avco Cartrivision, Sanyo’s V-Cord and Matsushita’s “Great Time Machine” quickly disappeared.