Net Element, Inc.

Mobile payments have been increasingly adopted since the launch of this new technology back in 2015. By the end of 2016, mobile payments are expected to reach up to $180 billion, and, according to a report entitled 'Mobile Payments Convergence: Opportunities at the Intersection of In-person, Online and P2P Payments' (http://nnw.fm/obqQ9), the number of people using mobile wallets in the last 30 days has grown from 12% to nearly one in four people in 2016, approximately 40 million people in the U.S. Experts expect this type of payment to reach a huge $410.5 billion by the end of 2020. So what is shaping the future of mobile payments for 2017?

As one of the fastest-growing technology-driven companies enabling mobile payments and value-added transactional services, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETE) is steadily carving out more and more of the global commerce pie. The South-Florida company currently has its sights set on certain key objectives: to empower smart payments through all channels of interaction between merchants and consumers, to establish multiple monetization channels for merchants and to add convenience and speed to everyday commerce. With subsidiaries like PayOnline under its umbrella, it is tactically positioned for substantial growth in the U.S. and in select emerging economies.

Before the opening bell, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETE), through subsidiary PayOnline, announced the launch of a new payment acceptance module for Telegram, a popular cloud-based mobile and desktop instant messenger application. As of February 2016, Telegram boasted roughly 100 million monthly users generating about 15 billion secure and encrypted messages each day. PayOnline will look to widen the usability of Telegram through the introduction of an integrated payment acceptance module for use with the high-volume insurance industry. The company's payments module is currently available for VTB Insurance, a leading insurance provider operating in Russia.

Cashless payments have been around for much longer than today's shopper probably suspects. An account in the Safarnama, or Book of Travels, by the 11th-century Persian scholar Naser-e-Khosraw, relates how one can shop without using cash: "The procedure at the bazaar is as follows: you turn over whatever you have to a moneychanger and get in return a draft; then you buy whatever you need, deducting the price from the moneychanger's draft."

Before the opening bell, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETE), through subsidiary PayOnline, announced a new partnership with Flight.az, a subsidiary of Delta Group, Ltd that's recognized as a leading online travel agency (OTA) in Azerbaijan. Under the terms of this contract, PayOnline integrated secure online, mobile payments acceptance functionality, as well as its proprietary 'Avia2Split' technology, into the OTA's existing booking platform, giving Flight.az the tools to better serve its target market of roughly 10 million people living in Southwestern Asia.