Bitcoin SV payments processing startup Centi has closed its first funding round, headlined by Dr. Jürg Conzett, founder of Zurich’s MoneyMuseum, and technology entrepreneur Calvin Ayre, founder of Ayre Group and CoinGeek.
The Swiss startup facilitates Bitcoin SV payments, enabling merchants to accept BSV through their existing Point of Sale (POS) infrastructure. Unlike the existing payments solutions, Centi doesn’t require additional hardware to process the payments. Once a customer pays in BSV, Centi converts the digital currency into the merchant’s fiat currency.
The funding will allow the startup to fast-track its product development, with the first merchants to use its system expected to be available later this year.
The startup will also greatly benefit from the network and expertise brought by the two investors, Centi’s founder Bernhard Müller believes. The long-time Bitcoin advocate remarked, “I feel privileged to work with two such experienced investors—Calvin Ayre and Dr Jürg Conzett—on creating the digital cash register of the 21st century. At this stage, expertise and business connections are just as important as the investment money.”
Centi’s payments platform works exclusively with Bitcoin SV. With its unbounded scaling, BSV is the only blockchain network that can support applications that compete with the existing solutions in the payments processing industry. Moreover, BSV’s low fees—now as low as 1/100 of a U.S. cent—allow Centi to offer the most competitive prices in the market.
Conzett commented, “Centi is well prepared to take advantage of combining blockchain with an efficient, low cost payment system. Further it has potential to add features no other payments system has today.”
Centi is a member of the Financial Services Standards Association (VQF), in line with BSV’s wider mission of maintaining a regulation friendly ecosystem. VQF is a self-regulatory organization with a focus on combating money laundering and preventing the financing of terrorism in Swiss financial services providers.
Centi will spark easy adoption of Bitcoin SV, Ayre believes. On his investment in the startup, he commented, “Centi’s technology offers a breakthrough solution for the easy adoption of Bitcoin SV by merchants. The innovative technology developed by Centi coupled with a blockchain that can scale makes for an exciting combination, one that I’m confident will prove a pivotal step in Bitcoin SV’s evolution as the digital currency of choice. I plan to roll this product out for all my retail tourism businesses in Antigua as soon as available.”
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