What is wrong with crypto payments today?
Tags: Escrow, Crypto, Bitcoin, Banking Technology, Asset Management

Blockchain technology has climbed its way up into fintech and is building momentum. The space is full of all sorts of projects — from insurance dApps to single window trading solutions — featuring on an increasing number of VC decks lately. Yet, the reality is that on a technical side the biggest part is poorly executed. At the same time, it looks like some fundamentals in the area are still crying for disruption.

Ever tried cashing out of crypto or paying with Bitcoin on a retail website? It could become rather frustrating especially when the market is seeing red thus making major service providers like Expedia bail on using crypto as means of payment. Sadly, but for now converting your crypto savings into fiat currency instantly exists only in theory. If you use a traditional bank transfer scheme, the cash-out can take up to several days causing a bit of nervous tension, since most banks are normally running a compliance check before accepting crypto payments. Cashing out by virtue of good old localbitcoins.net can also take up to several hours and a good deal of effort. All funds from major exchanges usually are paid via bank transfer, so your bank needs to be friendly to incoming transfers from cryptocurrency exchanges, as such payments are often most often «red flagged» in terms of compliance and AML policy. Hence, before actually getting the chance to use your money, you first should find a friendly bank, then wait a certain time to withdraw the money (which normally takes up to 3–5 days) and finally pay all due taxes. Is this an easy way to get cash money for your daily groceries or gas? Not likely, especially for small amounts. How about Localbitcoins and other p2p services? Sure thing Localbitcoins is a legendary service for bitcoin buy and sell, but it definitely falls out of category ‘quick and convenient’.

Moreover, the majority of top cryptocurrency exchanges doesn’t really have fiat pairs and bank transfers from cryptocurrency exchanges can turn into a big problem. Doesn’t it look like we’re having some sort of a ‘catch-22’ situation here? And wouldn’t it be cool to have some kind of solution able to manage fiat, crypto and assets all in one place? That’s the idea behind a young driven startup PLATIO that appears to have an operating MVP coming up. In their world, there are at least two great features enabled by virtue of two smart contracts types:

Automatically exchanging crypto into fiat / moving crypto to another account. This looks a lot like some sort of an automated arbitrage searching for exchange rates swings to generate some extra profit. Apart from that, the so-called ‘Asset Guard’ allows to monitor the inactivity of user account to perform certain beneficial actions. Giving access to crypto to the Seller only after parameters of the deal are met and the Buyer received the product / the service. A ‘Smart Escrow’ feature is a typical application of a smart contract to control the performance of legally binding agreements.

You are now free to exchange crypto to fiat or stocks as well as to make payments in crypto in an all-in-one user interface. It is basically a sort of crypto bank all-in-one service targeting at providing multiple banking services. No more multiple logins to exchanges, digital wallets and e-payment services: an ultimate all-in-one solution is essentially a crypto mobile bank with basic functionality of a crypto exchange allowing users to calculate risks and monitor the market fluctuations. The service is basically providing a third-party service to facilitate use of crypto in escrow deals, sales, real estate sales and international business transactions. On the development trajectory, Platio’s MVP is an operating software featuring such options as a credit card payments and an online wallet, thus giving users a new sleek way to trade and exchange crypto. PGAS is a typical utility token used as fuel for the platform.

The idea of building a single interface solution mimicking traditional banking service for crypto is not entirely new for those familiar with the space. It is still, however, raising multiple concerns both on legal and technical sides: legal compliance with various jurisdictions, KYC-issues, etc. The team able to tackle all of these would surely become the major player in the field. Another thorny question about all sorts of intermediary solutions and marketplaces is always: why on earth do we need an intermediary in the industry that initially was set as a peer-to-peer space? Turns out, the discrepancy between crypto space and traditional finance sector is pushing for building these types of solutions — whether transitory or here to stay. Given the naissance stage of blockchain technology, what truly matters for now is probably having a product able to leverage user experience to the max.