XRP and Shib Communities, please read carefully!

Last week, we launched our crypto bill payments service for US residents. As is the case with any product launch, we programmed some tweets showing off the amazing possibilities that this system makes possible.

We mentioned some of the cryptocurrencies that we accept for the inward flow of funds from users into the system and, frankly, some of the posts on X got some pretty crazy engagement. But that’s not what most surprised us. That title goes to the myriad of blogs, news articles and tweets (what ARE we supposed to call them now??) making claims that are rather inaccurate or misleading.

Have you ever played that game in which you whisper something to one person, they whisper it to another and so on until the message inevitably gets jumbled? We essentially saw this happen in real time over social media.

There are claims of partnerships, conspiracy theories that certain corporations are using our system to accumulate XRP, Shiba Inu or Bitcoin while deliberately preventing the general public from buying them and a long list of etceteras. So, let’s clear up some misconceptions from this particular game of online “broken telephone” by drilling down into the facts of what our system does and how it does it.

With a bit of luck, this will help to concentrate on the good stuff, while avoiding false claims, exaggerations and so on.

Calling all crypto journalists!

If you would like to get in touch with us BEFORE writing your articles or posts, we are always happy to provide clarifications and even conduct interviews – recorded or not. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to book a call with one of us.

A little background

To preface this, it is important to understand that the core of what we do is our Crypto Payment Gateway AKA Blockchain Payment System. 

Our system uses a multichain custodial wallet system – much the same as those used by centralised exchanges – in order to allow for orders to be paid for with direct crypto payments. FCF Pay generates an order for X amount of a certain fiat currency and then uses an industry-grade currency conversion API to provide a quote to pay for said order using one of the accepted cryptocurrencies. The merchant and the end user agree to this exchange of goods or services for digital assets and the transaction is completed. Simple!

In what we believe would be an ideal world, merchants would take the crypto, keep the crypto and spend the crypto. However, this is not something that will happen overnight and, as I have discussed at length in other blog posts, we believe that the road towards full mainstream adoption of blockchain-based payments will have to pass through a hybrid phase; blending the current system with the new one. We’re not radical in our approach as tends to happen in some circles when revolutionary ideas come along. We’re pragmatic realists, if you like.

How well is the system working?

The system has gone from beta to live with only minor bugs that needed to be fixed. We have observed that users have begun to test the system with smaller bill payments at first, but already in under a week the same users have begun to pay larger bills as they gain confidence.

We have seen similar patterns with our virtual and physical prepaid cards (the other solution we offer when merchants don’t accept crypto directly, which you should check out!) and also when merchants integrate the payment gateway to their websites, apps and so on.

It makes us very proud that our users only ever gain more confidence and trust in us over time. We go to great lengths to ensure our customer support is top notch and we believe the reputation we are building for ourselves as a no-nonsense customer-focused enterprise will stay with us for many years to come.

How does our bill payments system work?

First and foremost, exactly NONE of the nearly 21 thousand companies featured on the system are accepting direct crypto payments via this system. That’s right, zero.

It doesn’t matter if it’s XRP, Shiba Inu, USDT or USDC (on whatever blockchain), Bitcoin or Binance Coin… That’s not what the company receives.

When a user chooses to pay one of their bills via our service, they transfer the crypto to our payment gateway and a highly efficient automated system leaps into action in the background which ultimately leads to the bill being paid IN FIAT by one of our partners (companies that specialise in this kind of payment) on behalf of the user. It generally takes 24 to 48 hours for that to happen. This kind of payment aggregation system is nothing new. The innovation is how we’ve incorporated our own system into the user-facing part of the flow and how easy we make it for the user.

Unfortunately, there are still many hurdles to get over until companies will look at their crypto balances the same way as they look at their fiat balances, or even to forgo fiat altogether. Shall we just shout about it until they do? Would that really get us anywhere? Quite honestly, shouting at corporations to criticise them for not accepting direct crypto payments would only be counterproductive. Our strategy is to facilitate the USER’S ability to pay with crypto if they so wish, while gently and progressively introducing crypto payments to companies of all shapes and sizes as something approachable, safe and, ultimately, mainstream/normal.

The emphasis is on the user, not the company. Yes, we would love it if more companies accepted direct crypto payments, but while we’re working on it, it shouldn’t prevent us from making life easier for people that want to spend their cryptocurrency.

Have we partnered with the banks, etc. you can see on the system?

In a word, no. At least not the ones you will find on the bill payments system. 

We do collaborate with banks and other financial institutions of every conceivable size and in many countries, however.

Part of our team’s work includes providing custodial and non-custodial walleting infrastructures and payment solutions to financial institutions, payment service providers and so on. We provide both technological solutions and consulting services, delivering on our promise to make crypto payments easy. This is done as a white label service, so you will never ever know who it is that we work with!

Once again, this is part of our philosophy of collaboration and integration, rather than crossing our fingers and hoping that tomorrow we’ll wake up in a decentralised economic utopia. It’s hard work and there is A LOT of education that needs to be done in order for corporations and the general population to understand the shortcomings of the current system and the benefits of one based on the blockchain, but for us it’s a labour of love.

I sincerely hope you will join us on this journey.