Global blockchain leader nChain and South Afrian merchant payment ecosystem Centbee have partnered to ensure the speedy development of a merchant point of sale (PoS) software development kit (SDK) for the worldwide market.
The SDK is an open-source set of tools, processes and interfaces that software developers and system integrators can use to enable retailers to easily and quickly accept Bitcoin Cash at the till-point.
Angus Brown, Centbee co-CEO, explains: “Merchant acceptance of Bitcoin has been very limited to date. Centbee announced earlier this year that we would roll out mechanisms for merchants to accept Bitcoin Cash payments without exposure to price volatility and without installing new terminal hardware. This SDK is that global payment system.”
The project is funded by nChain to promote its vision of making it easy for everyone to use Bitcoin Cash for payments. Bitcoin Cash fulfils the original vision for Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system specifically built for worldwide transactions.
nChain Group CEO Jimmy Nguyen remarks: “As Centbee has focused on user-friendly Bitcoin wallets and merchant payment solutions we have partnered with them to ensure retailers can accept Bitcoin Cash at in-store points of sale for goods and services. This SDK will make it easier for merchants, through their PoS systems, to join the world of bCommerce. Centbee smartly embraces Bitcoin Cash because of its bigger blocks, low fees and fast transaction network represent the true vision of Bitcoin.”
Last year, Centbee successfully piloted the acceptance of Bitcoin payments at retail points of sale.
In January 2018, nChain’s investment arm, nChain Reaction, made an equity investment in Centbee.
Centbee was founded in 2016 by co-CEOs, Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown. It is a gold member of AlphaCode, the fintech investment arm of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings.
Dominique Collett, head of AlphaCode, comments: “We are excited about what Centbee is doing – helping crypto to go mainstream and providing real-world transactional capability. The Centbee origin story is also a good one as Lorien and Angus met at AlphaCode. This is a great example of how putting smart people in a room together can unlock creative, new ideas and hopefully spawn large, successful businesses.
“This was the premise of establishing AlphaCode as a fintech community – to stimulate the development of the next generation of financial services entrepreneurs.”