QR code payment is a contactless payment method where payment is performed by scanning a QR code from a mobile app. This is an alternative to doing electronic funds transfer at point of sale using a payment terminal. This avoids a lot of the infrastructure traditionally associated with electronic payments such as payment cards, payment networks, payment terminal and merchant accounts.
To use a QR code payment the consumers scans the QR code displayed by the merchant with their phones to pay for their goods. They enter the amount they have to pay and finally submit. This is a more secure card-not-present method than others.
History
The QR code system was invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara from the Japanese company Denso Wave. In 2011, Chinese company Alipay designed a QR code payment method which allowed offline partnering stores to accept payment by scanning an individual’s QR code in Alipay Wallet. In 2014, another Chinese technology company Tencent also introduced a similar feature on its messaging app WeChat to allow its users to make payments.[6] QR code payment has helped mobile payment become the most popular method of payments in China, accounting for 83% of all payments as of 2018. Nearly all shops, street vendors, most metro systems, buses, and taxis in Mainland China accept either WeChat Pay or Alipay for payment.
The first mobile wallet app for cryptocurrency Bitcoin featured sending and receiving payments with QR codes in March 2011. In 2020, PayPal announced offering payments through QR codes as well.
Usage by industry
Transportation
China
Most metro systems, buses, and taxis in Mainland China accept either WeChat Pay or Alipay for payment. The national railway operator, China Railway, also accepts the two major apps for payment.
India
Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro in India allows users to purchase a ticket on their phones using QR code payments. Instead of swiping an RFID card or single-use token, a QR code is generated on the Paytm app which is then read by a scanner mounted on the turnstile.
Cryptocurrency
Today’s projects in the cryptocurrency space have a pretty good incentive to facilitate crypto payments for their users. QR codes helps make this process simple and reliable. All you need is a quick scan from your smart phones camera to acquire the sending or receiving address.
Bitcoin wallet addresses as well as other types of cryptocurrencies are made up of a series of letters and numbers that can be longer than 34 characters. This makes it very inconvenient to have to enter manually by hand each time you need to send or request a payment. So by using a Bitcoin QR code generator app that long address can be turned into a QR code ready to scan quickly and easily.
