Crypto exchange, Bitfinex announced on Thursday the enabling of real-time Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments on the platform with its latest partnership with fiat on-ramp services provider OpenPayd.
SEPA allows instant euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals.
“We chose to work with OpenPayd because of its ability to help us access SEPA real-time payment rails and the speed of integration its API enables,” said Bitfinex’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino.
“This collaboration forms part of our continued efforts to provide a premium customer service experience to our growing user base.”
The Need to Enhance Fiat Payments
Support for fiat payments
Payments
One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times.
One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times.
Read this Term has become a key requirement and a challenge for crypto exchanges. As Bitfinex pointed out, near-instant payments with SEPA will only enhance the client experience on the platform.
Meanwhile, other crypto exchanges with European operations are focusing on bringing SEPA support to their customer base. Last month, Binance tied with Paysafe to enable instant payments for the euro and the British pound. It enabled SEPA for Europe and Faster Payment Services for the United Kingdom.
OpenPayd is offering its services across Europe. Additionally, the company made two key appointments this year: Daniel Belda as the new Head of Product Strategy and Barry O’Sullivan as the Head of Payments Infrastructure.
“The vision of embedded finance is to create a world where anyone building disruptive financial products can simply plug-and-play a fully-functional payments platform and access all the benefits that come with them, and this is exactly what we’ve enabled for Bitfinex,” Iana Dimitrova, the Chief Executive Officer at OpenPayd, said.
“We’re thrilled to be helping one of the world’s largest digital token exchanges to bridge the gap between fiat and crypto. It’s critical that Bitfinex and its customers have access to real-time payment rails and benefit from both improved customer experience and improve their potential to scale.”
Crypto exchange, Bitfinex announced on Thursday the enabling of real-time Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments on the platform with its latest partnership with fiat on-ramp services provider OpenPayd.
SEPA allows instant euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals.
“We chose to work with OpenPayd because of its ability to help us access SEPA real-time payment rails and the speed of integration its API enables,” said Bitfinex’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino.
“This collaboration forms part of our continued efforts to provide a premium customer service experience to our growing user base.”
The Need to Enhance Fiat Payments
Support for fiat payments
Payments
One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times.
One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times.
Read this Term has become a key requirement and a challenge for crypto exchanges. As Bitfinex pointed out, near-instant payments with SEPA will only enhance the client experience on the platform.
Meanwhile, other crypto exchanges with European operations are focusing on bringing SEPA support to their customer base. Last month, Binance tied with Paysafe to enable instant payments for the euro and the British pound. It enabled SEPA for Europe and Faster Payment Services for the United Kingdom.
OpenPayd is offering its services across Europe. Additionally, the company made two key appointments this year: Daniel Belda as the new Head of Product Strategy and Barry O’Sullivan as the Head of Payments Infrastructure.
“The vision of embedded finance is to create a world where anyone building disruptive financial products can simply plug-and-play a fully-functional payments platform and access all the benefits that come with them, and this is exactly what we’ve enabled for Bitfinex,” Iana Dimitrova, the Chief Executive Officer at OpenPayd, said.
“We’re thrilled to be helping one of the world’s largest digital token exchanges to bridge the gap between fiat and crypto. It’s critical that Bitfinex and its customers have access to real-time payment rails and benefit from both improved customer experience and improve their potential to scale.”
