Mobile wallet CurrentC launch delayed indefinitely

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Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) announced plans to postpone a national rollout of CurrentC, its QR-code-based mobile wallet, following feedback from customers and merchants during a trial in Columbus, Ohio, according to TechCrunch.

The firm plans to lay off 30 employees and refocus on banking partnerships; however, it implied that it still sees potential in the creation of a mobile wallet in the long run. 

For context, MCX is a consortium of retailers, including Chili’s, Kohl’s and Sunoco, that was formed in 2012 to build a mobile wallet product designed to compete with other mobile wallets and allow merchants to skirt interchange fees. 

CurrentC’s slow development likely cost it the ability to launch successfully.

• MCX has fallen behind in the mobile wallet ecosystem. The firm was founded in 2012 but has taken over three years to launch its platform. And the platform faces additional hurdles — it was never intended to come preloaded on phones, it wasn’t planned to include credit or debit compatibility, and it included a much smaller acceptance network of about 60 retailers. Wallets like Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, meanwhile, built out huge networks of merchants and issuing banks, which put pressure on MCX to launch CurrentC or risk losing the loyalty of its members because the opportunity cost of staying with CurrentC was rising. 
• That’s likely pushed merchants towards other channels. MCX initially had an exclusivity clause — its member merchants weren’t allowed to accept other mobile wallet products. But as that came to a close, some major MCX partners, like Best Buy and Rite Aid, began accepting other mobile wallets, while others, like Walmart, began developing their own proprietary products, indicating that MCX merchants may have begun to lose hope in the launch of CurrentC.  

MCX plans to focus on bank partnerships moving forward. It seems increasingly less likely that a nationwide CurrentC launch is on the horizon. As a result, the firm will focus on building partnerships with financial institutions to “enable and scale mobile payment solutions,” according to TechCrunch.

This could take the form of efforts like Chase Pay, Chase’s proprietary mobile wallet that was created in partnership with MCX, but it could also be an entirely new undertaking for the firm. 

The arrival of CurrentC could be another milestone in the incredible evolution of the payments ecosystem. The flood of mobile wallets on the market (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay, Walmart Pay, etc.) have changed the way we pay for goods, and these wallets are just one piece of the puzzle.

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