PolyFlow Insights:How PayFi Transforms “Buy Now Pay Later” into “Buy Now Pay Never”

PolyFlow
5 min readDec 9, 2024

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Over the past decade, “Buy Now Pay Later” (BNPL) has gained widespread adoption in the global e-commerce payment sector, particularly among younger consumers. By 2025, BNPL services are projected to account for 12% of global e-commerce spending on physical goods. Meanwhile, with the rise of the crypto wave, PayFi — a may be a groundbreaking application combining smart contracts, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance (DeFi) — is offering consumers a payment experience akin to “Buy Now Pay Never.”

In the evolution from “Buy Now Pay Later” to “Buy Now Pay Never,” PolyFlow, as the foundational infrastructure for PayFi, plays a pivotal role. Through its core products — (1) PID (Payment ID) as the gateway for compliance and (2) PLP (PolyFlow Liquidity Pool) as the entry point for fund custody — PolyFlow facilitates the compliant implementation and expansion of “Buy Now Pay Never” solutions.

What is “Buy Now, Pay Later”?

“Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) is a modern payment method that allows consumers to purchase goods or services without paying the full price upfront. Instead, they can split the cost into installments over a set period, typically interest-free. For example, a $100 purchase can be paid in four installments of $25 each.

This alternative payment method often appears alongside credit cards and other options. It has become one of the most popular payment methods, especially among younger customers.

(What is buy now, pay later? BNPL platforms for businesses | Stripe)
(What is buy now, pay later? BNPL platforms for businesses | Stripe)

According to data from Global Payments, in 2022, 44% of Gen Z and 37% of Millennials were expected to use BNPL services. Over half of American consumers have tried it, and nearly 10% of e-commerce transactions in Australia use BNPL. In 2020, BNPL became the fastest-growing payment method in both India and the UK. Analysts predict that by 2025, it will account for 12% of global e-commerce spending on physical goods.

For consumers, the biggest appeal of BNPL is the ability to break down smaller purchases into manageable installments without interest. It is widely used in e-commerce retail, offering flexible payment options that reduce the barriers to purchase. For merchants, BNPL can help boost sales conversion rates and increase average order values. According to Stripe, merchants offering BNPL services saw revenue increases of up to 14%.

What is PayFi’s “Buy Now, Pay Never”?

With the rise of stablecoins and the growing adoption of blockchain-based financial services, “Buy Now, Pay Never” is emerging as a new payment finance (PayFi) concept, signaling a shift beyond traditional BNPL.

PayFi, short for Payment Finance, refers to innovative applications that combine payment functions with financial services through blockchain and smart contract technologies. At its core, PayFi uses blockchain as a settlement layer, integrating Web3 payments and decentralized finance (DeFi) to enable efficient and unrestricted value movement.

PayFi was first introduced by Lily Liu, Chair of the Solana Foundation, during the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. She described it as a new financial market built around the “time value of money” (TVM). Many of these ideas are difficult or impossible to realize within traditional finance.

The goal of PayFi is to achieve the vision outlined in Bitcoin’s white paper: creating a peer-to-peer electronic cash payment network that requires no trusted third party. By leveraging DeFi, PayFi also aims to establish a new financial market with innovative products and applications, ultimately forming an entirely new value chain.

PayFi, How Solana Enables the Original Vision of Blockchain Lily Liu, Solana Foundatio

Lily also introduced the concept of “Buy Now, Pay Never” during her talk. Using blockchain and smart contract technology, BNPN allows users to lock in the future earnings of their DeFi investments to pay for today’s expenses.

For example, if Sarah stakes $50 on the PolyFlow protocol (which is expected to generate $5.50 in one month), she can use that future $5.50 in earnings to pay for a coffee purchase today via PolyFlow’s supported payment gateway. This is an example of combining real-world payment scenarios with DeFi, which lies at the heart of the PayFi vision.

From “Buy Now, Pay Later” to “Buy Now, Pay Never”

The fusion of blockchain-based payments with DeFi has given rise to PayFi. As Lily explained, “PayFi creates a new financial market based on the time value of money. This on-chain financial market enables new paradigms and product experiences that are not achievable in traditional finance.”

With blockchain technology, BNPN offers a more advanced experience than existing BNPL services.

  • For consumers, BNPN provides a convenient and affordable purchasing method. It enables real-world spending without hindering the growth of their invested assets.
  • For merchants, BNPN attracts a broader customer base, including crypto users, while increasing conversion rates and order values. Merchants don’t need to manage installment payments themselves and can focus on growing their business.
  • For DeFi protocols, BNPN encourages more users to stake assets while unlocking the liquidity of yield-bearing investments to bridge the gap between real-world spending and DeFi.

The PayFi financial market not only enhances the efficiency of Web3 payments compared to traditional finance — offering instant settlement, reduced costs, transparency, and global accessibility — but also uses DeFi’s decentralized, permissionless, and self-sovereign asset features to create a global, decentralized financial network.

How Does PolyFlow Enable “Buy Now, Pay Never”?

PolyFlow is an innovative PayFi protocol designed to connect real-world assets (RWA) with decentralized finance (DeFi). As the infrastructure layer of the PayFi network, PolyFlow integrates traditional payments, crypto payments, and DeFi to handle real-world payment scenarios in a decentralized manner. It provides the necessary infrastructure for PayFi applications while ensuring compliance, security, and seamless integration with real-world assets, paving the way for new financial models and industry standards.

PolyFlow’s decentralized infrastructure enables interoperability with various DeFi protocols. Its two key tools are:

  1. PID (Payment ID): Ensures compliance and serves as an entry point for regulated access.
  2. PLP (PolyFlow Liquidity Pool): Acts as the gateway for fund management.

Recently, PolyFlow launched the “Buy with Interests” program, actively collaborating with payment gateways, crypto payment cards, and Web3 projects to create a BNPN experience. This initiative aims to redefine decentralized payment systems in the Web3 space while expanding the use cases for PayFi.

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PolyFlow
PolyFlow

Written by PolyFlow

PolyFlow, the first modular PayFi infrastructure, bridges RWA and DeFi, pioneering a shift from "Buy Now, Pay Later" to the revolutionary "Buy Now, Pay Never."

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