Taking Crypto Payments Mainstream with UTRUST: a BitcoinNews.com Interview
Utrust is one of the leading names in digital currency payment solutions. They offer buying solutions that are fast with no chargebacks and were among the first to come up with cryptocurrency buyer protection for commerce.
Utrust had one of the most successful initial offerings in recent history in the crypto scene and they aim to make it easier and accessible for cryptocurrencies to integrate into the e-commerce sector, thus bringing them into the mainstream.*
BitcoinNews.com recently spoke to UTRUST’s VP of Global Partnerships, Sanja Kon, discussing the UTRUST solution.
- What do you think sets UTRUST apart from its competitors?
UTRUST’s mission is to revolutionize the payments industry by allowing traditional e-commerce merchants to abandon complex legacy systems and empower simple, secure and instant digital payments transactions.
Traditional payment companies are not keeping up the pace of innovation needed in the market — online merchants end up paying between 3% to 7% in payment processing fees, especially in the case with many cross-border payments.
UTRUST offers the cheapest and most transparent rate in the market: a 1% fiat payment fee, settled directly to their bank account.
Our operating model removes the risk of price volatility and allows merchants to settle directly into their bank account in the fiat currency of choice.
Moreover, we eliminate the cost of inconvenient credit card chargebacks and fraudulent payments.
Digital currency payments do not rely on legacy credit card infrastructure, and hence, do not suffer from the same amount of transaction fraud.
Chargebacks represent at least USD 40 billion per year in lost revenue, not accounting for the costs of software tools employed chargeback prevention.
Unlike other crypto payment processors, UTRUST makes cryptocurrency payments secure by implementing a buyer protection mechanism.
Last but not least, we allow buyers to pay with multiple cryptocurrencies and with multiple wallets, thus increasing the potential market share for the online retailers.
- What is the biggest barrier that you (UTRUST) have had to overcome in your journey so far, and how did you do it?
At UTRUST, we believe in the democratization of the payments industry through the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a payment method.
In this journey, one of the biggest barriers is still buyers and merchants understanding of crypto.
Cryptocurrencies are a difficult concept for many people to grasp. This is one of the things that has kept them out of the mainstream.
UTRUST feels that more information about crypto will lead to greater adoption and utilization across the board.
This is why we are focused on partnering with the world leading companies, who will help us in evangelizing the benefits of crypto payments and open up the doors for more buyers and sellers to adopt this technology.
- What is the largest feature of the platform that you feel is under-represented?
More than a specific feature, I think our approach is unique in the market.
We partner with technology pioneers in the ecommerce industry and we develop a tailored partnership approach, in order to:
– Help companies attract new, tech-savvy customers; and
– Help companies improve their operational efficiency by drastically reduce their costs associated with payment processing.
Tech savvy customers, millennials, and people who want to be in control of their finances are using cryptocurrency more and more each year. This is a wide audience and a growing mainstream trend.
We help companies to reach out to this new market segment of customers which is now worth more than USD 200 billion.
- What is the most important update coming in the next 3-6 months, and why?
We are building an ecosystem that makes digital payments as easy as they should be.
We started out with the simple idea of building a payment platform that makes crypto easy to use while protecting buyers and merchants.
We soon realized that, driven by our passion, we would end up in building something bigger than initially envisioned.
In the next six months, we are planning to release our secure crypto wallet and even a point-of-sale module.
They are currently in beta-testing with selected users. These beta programs are allowing us to adjust product-market-fit for our user needs while being confident we are compliant with all regulations and best practices in the industry. When releasing a groundbreaking ecosystem such as UTRUST, it is common to stagger the release of each component to ensure that every portion is working exactly as it should, maximizing the stability of the whole. As we progressively roll out the whole ecosystem, we want it to be bulletproof, even if that requires a phased deployment. Scalability and strength are our focus as we bring big merchants on to our platform.
- What is UTRUST’s long-term value proposition?
To us, the rise of cryptocurrencies is an enormous opportunity to change the way that people look at finance, technology and business around the world. To achieve this, we need to make sure that merchants can accept cryptocurrencies easily.
Over the next few months, we will select the best retailers to represent our growing ecosystem, starting with large-scale merchants with a global presence.
This way, UTRUST will be synonymous with highly-recognized brands using digital currency to power their transactions.
In the longer term, we will eventually reach more niche merchants with smaller transaction sizes, and we want to be able to serve any-size merchant across any vertical.
- How could UTRUST potentially change the monetary system?
In an increasingly globalized world, moving money and paying for goods and services across borders should be as simple as sending emails across borders.
Although cryptocurrencies are still far from being universally accepted by retailers, thousands of merchants around the world are taking crypto in exchange for goods — and their ranks grow daily.
UTRUST will help drive massive adoption of cryptocurrencies, by partnering with major worldwide retailers, allowing therefore a growing number of users to pay for goods and services.
This will generate a domino effect as companies accepting crypto will experience a higher operational efficiency by lowering their costs and attracting a younger, technologically-advanced base of customers, which will drive adoption even further.
- In the maturing state of cryptocurrencies, what’s your take on stablecoins and do you plan on integrating such coins as a better hedge against volatility?
Volatility prevents the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies, because they are subject to price fluctuations.
Stablecoins solve this problem as they’re able to maintain a stable value against a target price.
At UTRUST, we select cryptocurrencies with a clear institutional demand.
Every cryptocurrency that is integrated into the UTRUST ecosystem of merchants and consumers is required to have strong fundamentals that would ultimately lead to mainstream adoption.
We are planning to further integrate cryptocurrencies with a long track record, robust infrastructure and solid demand from the market, including major stablecoins.
- Which are the main issues on the market today and how does UTRUST intend to fix them?
Volatility represents one of the major threats to the wider adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Merchants are reluctant to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method because of the price fluctuations, they don’t want to be paid less than the actual value of the item they are selling, and/or erode their margins.
At UTRUST we give buyers the possibility to pay in multiple cryptocurrencies but then we immediately convert that value into fiat money to make sure we protect the merchant against volatility.
UTRUST is the only player providing a consumer protection service.
Consumer protection is taken for granted in traditional ecommerce platforms, and we believe crypto should follow the same standard.
Since day one, we have been focused on compliance and regulation.
We have been granted membership with VQF (Financial Services Standards Association), a self-regulatory organization approved by Switzerland’s financial markets regulator, FINMA. This enables UTRUST to operate as a financial intermediary under the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).
With this approval, UTRUST will also contribute to the continued development of the digital currency payments industry by helping to establish best-practice guidelines for organizations operating in the space.
- What do you think the next big thing in digital e-commerce is going to be?
The biggest focus for e-commerce merchants should be to think about how they manage and serve their customers in all their channel touch points.
New technologies have emerged as a result of increasing customer demands, and customers have multiple ways to interact with retailer’s products and services.
Voice-activated personal assistants now occupy our phones, cars, and homes, making commerce as simple as announcing our desires. Infinitely versatile apps virtualize checkout, making once friction-filled experiences easy.
Contextual commerce links social media directly to shopping.
Conversational commerce enables personalized shopping through live chat and automated chat bots.
The Internet of Things integrates commerce into seemingly everything, from our cars as we pass through tolls to sensors in our appliances.
Merchants need now to consider how their business can serve customers in a more efficient, integrated way.
Payments are essential to that mission as they are foundational to providing safe, frictionless experiences to consumers, however they shop.
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Talha Dar, Khareem Sudlow