Walk through a neighborhood arts and craft fair and witness the convergence of payment systems firsthand: the jeweler manually makes a carbon copy of your Visa or will take a check if it is all you have; the glass blower accepts credit and debit cards with her wireless card reader; the woodcarver submits all payment information on his portable laptop; and the t-shirt vendor lets you take home a souvenir after submitting your card information via iPhone. From paper to Wi-Fi,the payment mediums and the systems through which they travel are becoming increasingly interchangeable. With the emergence of the electronic age, convergence has become a constant theme. Initially, the term convergence was used to describe the convergence of the means of communication: cable, telephone, or broadcasting. Once distinctly separate means of communication, today one can use the telephone over cable, or receive certain broadcast programs over telephone wires. More recently, there has been digital convergence: a phenomenon that has been observed in a variety of information technology industries including handheld computing, telecommunications, consumer electronics, networking, residential broadband, and broadcast video, among others. It has been observed that this digital convergence increases the value and flexibility of products and services, as well as the interchangeability of products that were previously in distinct industries. As more and more payment systems are taking advantage of the benefits afforded by technological advances, these payment systems are experiencing convergence - and indeed convergence has emerged as a persistent theme in the payments area.