Cryptocurrency-based Payment Systems Mushrooming
Blockchain companies are entering the payment market, applying cryptocurrencies to so-called simple payment systems that allow people to pay without credit cards or cash.
A recent report from Chain Partners, a Korean cryptographic investment company, notes that the Japanese government is expected to publish a guideline for a cryptocurrency-based payment system before the Tokyo Olympics to increase payments by cryptocurrencies.
Cash accounts for about 80 percent of consumers’ payments in Japan. For this reason, there are many stores in Tokyo that do not accept credit cards. This has resulted in a decrease in consumption by foreign tourists. Therefore, some analysts say that the Japanese government is likely to introduce a cryptocurrency-based payment system as a way to reduce the use of cash.
In Korea, cryptocurrency companies are rushing into the simple payment market where credit cards and cash are replaced by mobile phones.
Bithumb, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Korea, selected “Bithumb Cash,” a cryptocurrency-based payment service, and Terra, a blockchain project, is preparing a simple blockchain-based payment service called “Terra Pay.”
In addition, blockchain companies in Korea are introducing cryptocurrency-based payment platforms one after another. Glosfer, a blockchain company that launched cryptocurrency Hycon, released a Hycon-based Payment Platform, “Hycon Pay” on Dec. 27 last year, while introducing Over the Mountain Hotel in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province as the first merchant to accept the Hycon Pay service.
Things9, a company that launched a cryptocurrency dubbed “Community Coin,” said that it has signed MOUs with leading POS companies in Korea that are interested in using its patented cryptocurrency-based offline payment system.
In particular, the company is building an environment where people can pay with cryptocurrencies at any place at any time. It is expanding the pool of offline merchants that use its platforms AnyClett and AnyPos.
Blockchain-based solution provider Pundi X commercialized X Pos, a payment device that can be used for cryptocurrency-based payments and purchases, a payment card X Pass, and X Wallet application. The system allows users to receive payments in cryptopcurrencies and make QR code-based payments through X Wallet.