  The answers to these questions depend on a clear understanding
of how payment companies can innovate. I argue that there are
three ways: bring new assets to the table, use new networks
(backbones) to clear payments, and provide new interfaces
(chips) for existing assets and payment clearing networks. A
case could be made for a fourth area, concerning the incentives
to various stakeholders in the payments value chain. But often
those price schemes do little to affect the fundamental business
of sending and receiving payments.  This blog series is devoted
to analyzing innovators in the payments market. In the coming
weeks, CEME will examine one company at a time. Each post will
explain what, if anything, differentiates a single payment
innovator from the rest of the pack, and what are its strengths
and weaknesses going forward.  The vast majority of innovation
happens around new interfaces for existing payments. New
hardware makes transactions faster. It can improve merchants’
control over when and how paymen