Thai Startup Atomicpay Launches Non-Custodial Crypto Payment Platform

[Ozark]

Atomicpay, a Thai-registered payments startup, has officially launched its non-custodial cryptocurrency payment terminal for merchants throughout the world. Founder and developer Benz Rif said the platform, which supports BTC, BCH, LTC and other cryptos, eliminates the involvement of a third-party processor, allowing merchants to accept payments directly from their customers.

A P2P Payment Solution With Payment Processor Benefits

“Cryptocurrency itself is decentralized, but blockchain payment processors continue to be centralized,” Rif told news.Bitcoin.com on Jan. 12. “This resulted in the same old problems with high processing fees, hidden charges, slow settlements, hacks, foul play, privacy and censorship issues.”

The technology behind Atomicpay allows shop owners to obtain immediate custody of funds whenever a user makes payment. The platform does not work as a financial custodian like Paypal or Bitpay, Rif said. From the start to the end of a payment, no funds will go through Atomicpay and neither does the processor hold any funds belonging to retailers.

“It is an entirely peer-to-peer payment solution, with the convenience and benefits of a payment processor,” explained Rif. News.Bitcoin.com tried out the platform, whose account creation process proved to be fairly straightforward. Provide a full name and email address, and, once you’ve authenticated your email address, you’re good to go. A wizard on the site helps you set up the wallet addresses of your choice into which payment will be made.

Atomicpay is not a wallet service – nor is it an exchange or cryptocurrency swapping service. Rather, it is a payments platform built for merchants, but unlike custodial solutions does not store or hold their money. When everything is set up, the site asks you to generate an invoice, indicating your preferred fiat currency for processing payment (156 fiat currencies are supported). After that, the user is prompted to scan a QR code, or enter an existing bitcoin wallet address where payment is made directly from the wallet to the merchant. Featured payment buttons include Quickpay and Pay URL.

More Than 1,700 Merchants Onboarded

Benz Rif said more than 1,700 merchants from different parts of the world including Thailand, Venezuela, Turkey and Colombia have been onboarded to the platform. The processing fee is charged at a flat 0.9 percent per transaction, but that can go lower to 0.8 percent with full know-your-customer compliance. Discounts are offered for heavy users.

“Atomicpay does not have access to the merchant’s private key and money goes directly to their cold wallet,” Rif noted. “Our service allows merchants to receive payments directly from their customer bypassing a third party, hence fees are not deducted from transactions. Our plans are based on a post-paid charging model. Merchants only pay for their usage at the end of the month.”

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