Last week, Mercuryo’s Aviessa Khoo and our CEO John Tan discussed the challenges of integrating crypto and traditional finance. Alchemy Pay is now using Mercuryo’s API for its ramp solution – a plugin that enables users to make fiat-crypto exchanges and remittances. Alchemy Pay and Mercuryo are solving the pain points of DeFi and Web3 accessibility – a challenge at the cutting edge of modern finance.
Listen to the Mercuryo & Alchemy Pay TwitterSpace recorded on 18 August 2022.
Acquirer Required
For processing credit and debit card transactions, the important factors are the fees and the transaction success rate. By working more acquirers we enhance both of these elements. To do this we need to optimise the routing of payments.
For example, if Alchemy Pay is processing a Hong Kong issued card, we want to route the transaction to a local acquirer in Hong Kong. Routing to a local acquirer enables cheaper and more reliable transactions. It becomes a domestic transaction (not a cross-border transaction). The risk level of the transaction is considered lower by traditional financial institutions which makes for a more cost effective transaction with a higher approval rate.
“Mercuryo is already integrated and connected with many acquirers around the world. Connecting with them connects us to multiple merchants on one single API. This enables smart-routing for lower fees and successful transactions with our ramp solution”
John Tan, Alchemy Pay
Mercuryo: Many Acquirers, One API
However, because of all the necessary legal steps to go through, onboarding with any acquirer is a slow process. Alchemy Pay holds numerous licenses; to operate a fiat exchange as well as operate a crypto wallet, among others. Nevertheless, the process of integrating an acquirer is not easy or quick.
Mercuryo is already integrated with multiple acquirers around the world. Connecting with them connects us to multiple merchants on one single API. This enables smart-routing for lower fees and successful transactions with our ramp solution. Let’s say if a particular transaction fails with one acquirer, we can route it to another acquirer to try the transaction again. Payment routing optimisation looks for the most economic option too.
When it comes to crypto, traditional finance has been difficult to work with to say the least. Over the past decade, the integration of payments from fiat currencies, in and out of crypto, has been highly challenging.
“At Mercuryo, we do all kinds of payments and believe that crypto will be the basis for financial infrastructure in the future. We’ve been helping large exchanges, wallets, and DeFi onboard users from fiat to crypto, developing relationships with banks, acquirers, and regulators. We know how to deal with payment processing”
Aviessa Khoo, Mercuryo
Mercuryo offers several products such as Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), helping companies open bank accounts in Europe for their organisations, as well as provide bank accounts to their end customers on their platform using our licensing and infrastructure. There is also a pay in/out solution to help merchants accept and withdraw money, and on-ramping rails to help CeFis and DeFis onboard users quickly and easily.
Mercuryo offers the card acquiring layer to Alchemy Pay. Ultimately, it helps increase global payment acceptance of local currencies for our ramp solution effectively.
Token Issuers Can Access New Users
Alchemy Pay has now integrated centralized wallets like Binance Pay (and another major exchange’s wallet very soon) so users can essentially use the ramp plugin to achieve a token swap between a cryptocurrency token in their exchange wallets and a token that has been integrated into the ramp solution.
This is a new opportunity for users to purchase tokens that are not listed on every centralized exchange, and help DeFi thrive!
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Try Alchemy Pay’s Ramp Solution Plugin
