Gemini partners with Flexa to start payment processing

[gentlemand]

http://fortune.com/2019/05/13/bitcoin-comes-to-whole-foods-major-retailers-in-coup-for-digital-currency/

https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/13/flexa-launches-global-payment-network-and-mobile-app-for-trading-cryptocurrency/

This is a great development. I've always found it very weird how Bitpay have managed to maintain their monopoly now Coinbase have given up, even more so that Bitpay take every opportunity to be nasty to BTC and make it cry.

I'm going to guess that it'll be more limited and they may well curate who they deal with in a way Bitpay don't, but it's about time there was some competition in this area.

[LeGaulois]

That could attract a lot of people but tt is still necessary for companies to agree to install it. Which is yet another fight. At least that could attract big brands. I know there is also another similar app on android (cryptomat-kryptomat don't remember). But it is mostly used in Eastern European countries

[BitHodler]

Gemini has lately been a subject of discussion when it comes to their fee upgrades that hit the traders there hard. A lot of them have said to look out for a different exchange, and I can't even blame them.

I doubt BitPay will lose sleep over this partnership. BitPay does well over $1 billion in conversions a year, which Coinbase hasn't been able to do since they offered their service to merchants. BitPay has that first mover advantage.

[gentlemand]

Gemini has lately been a subject of discussion when it comes to their fee upgrades that hit the traders there hard. A lot of them have said to look out for a different exchange, and I can't even blame them.

I doubt BitPay will lose sleep over this partnership. BitPay does well over $1 billion in conversions a year, which Coinbase hasn't been able to do since they offered their service to merchants. BitPay has that first mover advantage.

I'm relatively sure that Gemini's latest fee upgrade is a split between moron noobs who get a simplified interface and those who apply to support to get the original one back along with a lesser fee structure.

It sounds similar to Coinbase vs Coinbase Pro. Gemini's phone trading app also has higher fees.

Looks to me like Bitpay is doing little other than lying on their first mover status and farting occasionally. There'll never be Segwit, let alone LNs. They're steering users into a limited number of wallets. They're not stepping beyond BTC and BCH.

All of those are big opportunities for someone else to turn up and eat their lunch. Banking is what any contender needs and Gemini has it.

That could attract a lot of people but tt is still necessary for companies to agree to install it. Which is yet another fight. At least that could attract big brands. I know there is also another similar app on android (cryptomat-kryptomat don't remember). But it is mostly used in Eastern European countries

Am pretty sure Bitpay integration doesn't just turn up in your settings like magic. You have to apply for it and integrate it.

[figmentofmyass]

http://fortune.com/2019/05/13/bitcoin-comes-to-whole-foods-major-retailers-in-coup-for-digital-currency/

https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/13/flexa-launches-global-payment-network-and-mobile-app-for-trading-cryptocurrency/

This is a great development. I've always found it very weird how Bitpay have managed to maintain their monopoly now Coinbase have given up, even more so that Bitpay take every opportunity to be nasty to BTC and make it cry.

I'm going to guess that it'll be more limited and they may well curate who they deal with in a way Bitpay don't, but it's about time there was some competition in this area.

this was definitely unexpected and i'm glad to see new competitors in the space.

i'm not thrilled to see gemini behind this though given how they are so compliance-minded. as bad as bitpay is, given gemini's track record of really stiff KYC, account terminations upon wire deposit or redemption of GUSD, etc i have to wonder how smooth their payment processing will be.

it seems account-based---you download the app and deposit crypto, then the app deducts from your balance as you spend. like a coinbase debit card where you pay by QR code instead of chip. this will offer a treasure trove of data for transaction clustering/blockchain analysis. i doubt i'll be using it.

[squatter]

That could attract a lot of people but tt is still necessary for companies to agree to install it. Which is yet another fight.

According to this article, huge companies like Whole Foods and Starbucks are already officially accepting payments through Flexa. This is the full list:

Companies now officially accepting these cryptocurrencies, according to Flexa, are Barnes & Noble, Baskin Robbins, Bed Bath & Beyond, Caribou Coffee, Crate and Barrel, Express, GameStop, Jamba Juice, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Office Depot & OfficeMax, Petco, Regal Cinemas, Ulta Beauty and Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market. And of course, there's Starbucks, in spite of not being part of the official launch. In total, nearly 100 stores are expected to start accepting bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies via the Spedn app by the end of this year.

I'm still confused about how it works, though. Are the QR codes generated by the Spedn app somehow integrated with a larger payment infrastructure like ApplePay? What do you tell the cashier when you want to pay in cryptocurrency so that the QR code will register correctly?

[gentlemand]

redemption of GUSD

I'm surprised this is included. I expected them to keep it a pure market trading thing. And as you say they're so uptight I can imagine it's going to become something of an untouchable for most people.

I've spent BTC through Bitpay directly from an address with a balance made up entirely from Chipmixer payouts. I wonder how long I'd last if I tried that with this.

[LeGaulois]

That could attract a lot of people but tt is still necessary for companies to agree to install it. Which is yet another fight.

According to this article, huge companies like Whole Foods and Starbucks are already officially accepting payments through Flexa. This is the full list:

Companies now officially accepting these cryptocurrencies, according to Flexa, are Barnes & Noble, Baskin Robbins, Bed Bath & Beyond, Caribou Coffee, Crate and Barrel, Express, GameStop, Jamba Juice, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Office Depot & OfficeMax, Petco, Regal Cinemas, Ulta Beauty and Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market. And of course, there's Starbucks, in spite of not being part of the official launch. In total, nearly 100 stores are expected to start accepting bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies via the Spedn app by the end of this year.

I'm still confused about how it works, though. Are the QR codes generated by the Spedn app somehow integrated with a larger payment infrastructure like ApplePay? What do you tell the cashier when you want to pay in cryptocurrency so that the QR code will register correctly?

When it's time to pay the cashier you tell him you pay with your phone. Like people are currently doing with googlepay or applepay. I don't know much I never used a QR code or pay with a smartphone 
Probably something like making a POS terminal compatible with another card provider, but in this case, compatible with the app

[elda34b]

This Flexa thing is hyped in the past few weeks, looks like this is the reason why. Lots of Telegram shiller channel start shilling this thing in April iirc, after it got the attention of IDEX gem hunter.

Looks like they got it correctly this time.

[1Referee]

I'm still confused about how it works, though. Are the QR codes generated by the Spedn app somehow integrated with a larger payment infrastructure like ApplePay? What do you tell the cashier when you want to pay in cryptocurrency so that the QR code will register correctly?

It's just similar to how other legacy payment options work. The stores either have a hardware device that generates a QR for you, or they just have it pop up on their screen for you to scan. All you need to do is say that you want to use Bitcoin as payment, and they'll fire it up for you. Pretty self explanatory I would say, unless you haven't paid with your phone in a store yet.

I always found it such a waste that there aren't any physical grocery shops accepting Bitcoin, because that's where I do most of my shopping, and this is very likely the first step towards that. Right now it doesn't provide any usefulness to me as European citizen, but it won't take long before we here have a similar set up done by whatever crypto entity.

Coinbase pussied out of the merchant side because they have far more "important" things to do, such as list shitcoins. Gemini has the incentive as main Bitcoin entity and the financial means to turn this into a success.