Flexa has launched a mobile app and payment network to help people spend their cryptocurrency. The company said its app enables immediate and secure cryptocurrency payments at major retailers.
The limited launch will enable instant cryptocurrency payments in stores and online for several retail merchants.
Beginning today, select merchants can accept Ether, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and the Gemini dollar from consumers who have the new SPEDN mobile wallet app. The SPEDN app will be more widely available for download in the App Store starting next week.
To spend cryptocurrency on Flexa, consumers send Bitcoin or other supported digital assets to the secure SPEDN wallet and scan the app’s barcode at the register, just like other forms of digital payment. Flexa then converts a consumer’s cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars in real time for payment to the merchant.
“This is the first real instance of decentralized global retail payments, with the power to make commerce more efficient and accessible for billions of citizens globally,” said Flexa CEO Tyler Spalding in a statement. “The legacy payment systems are complicated and costly. This solution provides a way for cryptocurrencies to solve these problems and allow merchants to conduct inexpensive and fraud-resistant transactions.”
Above: Gemini is a way to buy and sell cryptocurrency.
Image Credit: Gemini
The SPEDN app was built on the open Flexa network, which acts as an intermediary between merchants and the blockchain and requires no point-of-sale upgrades for merchants.
By integrating existing merchant points-of-sale with blockchain technologies, Flexa’s network simplifies the payment settlement process and reduces instances of fraud, decreasing two of the most significant operating costs for retailers, the company said. Payment processing costs have risen to nearly $90 billion, and 2017 losses due to payment card fraud were reported at $22 billion globally.
In addition to simplifying the payment process, Flexa also announced its partnership with Gemini Trust Company, a regulated and secure cryptocurrency exchange and custodian to exclusively leverage the Gemini dollar. Consumers can spend their U.S. dollars on the blockchain without the price volatility associated with traditional cryptocurrencies.
“This technology shifts cryptocurrency from investment and speculation toward real usability. You can finally buy a cup of coffee with cryptocurrency and a tap off your phone. This moves the broader ecosystem closer to realizing the full promise and power of crypto,” said Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss in a statement.
In 2018, Gemini launched the Gemini dollar, the world’s first regulated, dollar-pegged stablecoin, under the direct supervision of its regulator, the New York Department of Financial Services. Flexa customers’ assets will also be custodied by Gemini, providing an additional layer of security and regulation.
Flexa was founded in 2018 to make payments between buyers and sellers more efficient, accessible, and affordable for the very people doing the buying and selling. Based in New York, the Flexa team — with founders Tyler Spalding, Trevor Filter, Zachary Kilgore, and Daniel McCabe – brings decades of experience in consumer payments products to bear on the nascent and thriving ecosystem of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Gemini Trust Company allows customers to buy, sell, and store such digital assets as Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ether, Zcash, and Litecoin. Gemini is a New York-based trust company that is subject to the capital reserve requirements, cybersecurity requirements, and banking compliance standards set forth by the New York Department of Financial Services and the New York Banking Law. Gemini was founded in 2014 by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to build a bridge to the future of money.
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