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BI Intelligence has combed top trade publications and analyst reports to create our top 10 list of the trends that will shape digital payments in 2014. These are the predictions that either came up again and again, or that echoed our own analysis and data. Here are the developments in the payments space to look out for: 1. NFC will die. Consumers will ultimately decide whether NFC will become popular, and so far the technology isn't proving compelling enough to spur widespread adoption.

NFC allows a smartphone to communicate with a payment terminal at a physical store, via a brief tap. This allows for "walletless," or phone-powered payments. But tap-and-pay phone transactions aren't much more convenient than cash and credit cards. "Instead of swiping or using a PIN pad, they're tapping. How is that really better? How is that changing your life? People don't want that," says PayPal President David Marcus. We agree with Marcus: 2014 will be the year that NFC goes away as a real factor in the debate over the future of payments.

Although it will carve out a role in some markets where it's already influential, such as China and South Korea. (See our report: "Mobile Is The Future Of Payments - Here's How Much Runway There Is For Growth.") 2. Bluetooth Low Energy will conquer retail. BLE is the NFC rival that really will revolutionize payments and commerce in 2014. The Bluetooth Low Energy communications frequency has a range of up to 50 meters and can be used for a host of applications including payments, peer-to-peer fund transfers, as well as notifications and offers as part of in-store loyalty and marketing campaigns.

In a recent report, we discussed how beacons, which serve as BLE transmitters, can help create indoor communication systems for these purposes. From the perspective of the consumer, the technology is superior to NFC because it doesn't require close proximity for payments, and BLE-powered payments can happen nearly automatically - for example, as a consumer exits a store with their merchandise. This means that it can be more convenient than plastic credit cards, or cash. Bluetooth Low Energy is on over 200 million iOS devices already in conjunction with Apple's iBeacon platform, and many Android devices also support it.

(See our report: "Beacons: What They Are, How They Work, And Why Apple's iBeacon Technology Is Ahead Of The Pack.") 3. Bitcoin hype will die down, and more will use it for what it was meant for - a means of global exchange. Bitcoin is not going to lose its volatility in the next year. The wild price oscillations will continue. So will the convoluted and technical debates about what it is and whether it's a harebrained scheme or not. But one thing will change: People will no longer talk just about Bitcoin's price, and they'll start to see it for what it was always meant to be: an online instrument for powering transactions and moving value.

The infrastructure for bitcoin payments will grow more sophisticated, and platforms will proliferate that will eliminate transaction risk when two parties transact in bitcoins.

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