Edgar, Dunn & Co., a strategy consultancy, has released its 10th Advanced Payments Report, sponsored by fintech and services provider Wirecard.

The report provides perspectives and insights from payment industry executives, analysts, and stakeholders obtained from interviews, discussions, and EDC’s annual online advanced payments survey of more than 500 industry professionals, a company press release said.

The report covers current trends in global payments industry, including a discussion of mobile wallets from device manufacturers.

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of survey respondents agreed that in the future, multiple wallets with differing technologies will coexist, but that market consolidation within the next two to three years will reduce their numbers.

Investors continue to show interest in person-to-person payments and are finding new applications through personal messaging apps — especially in China.

As to who will win the personal payments battle, survey responses were fairly evenly divided but mobile wallet providers were ranked first by 24 percent of respondents.

The latter part of the report focuses on innovations such as the Internet of Things, virtual currencies and blockchain, and the practical applications and impact these technologies could have in years to come.

Only 34 percent of respondents think that bitcoin will be used for general online payments, however, 70 percent believe that more financial institutions will invest in blockchain related technologies to trade and transfer financial assets.

A free download of the full report is available from EDC.