THE NEXT GENERATION OF BUSINESS PAYMENTS

Petr Kozyakov-Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer, Mercuryo

 

In 2020, 35.6 billion payments were made in the UK alone, according to recent numbers released by UK Finance.  Unsurprisingly this was a decline of 11% from the previous year as the world was tackling the coronavirus pandemic, with significant impact on the way we live, work and travel.

Despite this blip in overall spending volumes, payments are still big business and the industry is rapidly evolving, with pressure from consumer demand driving innovation as shoppers look for faster, cheaper and more efficient payment methods. Much of this demand comes from what consumers are seeing from technology in other areas. For instance, WhatsApp messages can be tracked and senders can see if the respondent is online and if they are responding.  We can reach this level of transparency with instant messaging, but business payments remain shrouded in mystery, until they reach the end recipient.

Whilst consumer payments evolve, business banking has seen little of this disruption. Cross border transactions for example, are still a very costly, lengthy, and inconvenient procedure for businesses of all sizes. Companies have to deal with high processing costs, lack of transparency, and a long chain of intermediaries involved in the funds transferring process from tricky onboarding and meeting all of the necessary legal requirements.

And it’s not a lack of demand that is seemingly stalling innovation and development in the sector – in recent years the need for cross-border payments has increased due to manufacturers expanding their supply chains across borders, global investment flows and international remittances as well as businesses using internationally based freelancers. The increasing demand for cross-border payments requires an efficient and safe way to transfer funds, on a global scale.

In the cross-border payments space, blockchain and cryptocurrency may become the solution, enabling near-instant payments and eliminating the complex processes and expensive fee structures in place.

 

Current processes: expensive and sluggish

Currencies are closed-loop systems meaning when transferring funds to another country, payment systems are not directly connected. This process requires a web of partners interacting to process a simple payment. Acquiring banks, emitting banks, corresponding banks, card issuing companies, all play a part, each having to interact, confirm, update and process a payment. This results in a complex and sluggish system, which is unfit for speedy and reliable payments. The delay can take up to five days and can have a detrimental effect on the supply chain distribution process for businesses and the cashflow of their suppliers.

It’s not just the staid systems in place that are causing friction but the current cost of transfers is prohibitive. Because of the web of intermediaries involved in processing, each will charge a fee for their part played, with fees ranging widely.

 

The next generation of payments: Blockchain Solutions

Sending and receiving B2B transactions should be as fast and easy as transferring money via your regular banking app, and Blockchain-based solutions are a driving force, attempting to disrupt the space. When we think about cryptocurrency, it’s easy to focus on the much-publicised trading and market elements. But this technology, when applied as a payments use case, can offer an unmatched solution – very cheap and effective payment transactions. You can move as much as several million in BTC and pay a £0.073 fee. In fact, it doesn’t really matter if you’re sending £100 or £100,000; the cost of transferring money across borders will stay exceptionally low. At a time when business finances have been hard hit, transaction fees are a significant financial burden, eating into profit margins. The ability to reduce running costs could prove to be a lifeline to businesses as they get back on their feet post Covid-19.

Using Blockchain’s distributed, consensus-based real-time verification of transactions making it very difficult to defraud. It also enables increased settlement speed compared to traditional card-based processing enabling payments to arrive in minutes.

Mercuryo is a payment infrastructure company that aims to redefine how people and businesses transact with each other and transform every business into a global one.  It is one of the leading platforms to bridge fiat money and cryptocurrency, allowing businesses across the world to operate with both fiat and crypto, send mass pay-outs, buy and sell digital assets, and execute cross-border transactions cheaper and instantly.

Implementing cryptocurrency into cross-border money transfers will provide stability, reduced cost, and improved speed to business payments across borders. It’s clear there are still regulatory and educational hurdles to be overcome before the mass implementation of blockchain derived technologies, but the potential of bridging the world of fiat and crypto assets within the payments space is very clear.

 

Petr Kozyakov-Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer, Mercuryo

Petr is Co-Founder and CBDO for Mercuryo, a cryptocurrency infrastructure start-up enabling businesses to accelerate their growth and boost revenue through an ecosystem of cryptocurrency payment solutions.

A seasoned professional, Petr is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the business, the signing of new partners and banks and launching new products. His passion and knowledge of the payments space stems from over 12 years working with brands in financial services such as PayOnline and PayU. In 2014 Petr became a Co-Founder and CBDO of Win Pay – one of the first companies to offer cross-border payments and card processing services to crypto-related projects which became one of the leaders in cross-border payments in the CIS market.

Petr is an experienced commentator across a range of topics in the payments and blockchain space. His areas of expertise include the changing payments landscape, electronic payments and card processing, cryptocurrency and payment regulation.

 

About Mercuryo

Mercuryo is a cryptocurrency infrastructure start-up, enabling businesses to accelerate their growth and boost revenue through an ecosystem of plug and play payment solutions. These solutions include fiat and crypto on and off ramps allowing businesses access to flexible payment types, a widget and a crypto-acquiring solution.

Businesses can build their own payment module to suit their requirements and make use of the opportunities that blockchain and crypto offer to future-proof their business.

Established in 2018, Mercuryo now has over a million users and 200+ B2B partners in its portfolio and have been integrated by numerous crypto exchanges and wallets, including Bitfinex, Bithumb, ByBit, Binance, Trezor, Trust Wallet, 1inch and more.

www.mercuryo.io

 

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