Eric Barbier, CEO of TripleA, shares the benefits merchants and PSPs can reap from accepting crypto payments once their concerns are addressed
Eric, you have such great experience building successful payments companies and fintechs, what do you think are the fundamentals of establishing a solid crypto payments gateway?
The key operating principle is compliance with the law. A payment gateway cannot be a vehicle for money laundering or illicit activities.
Besides working closely with government bodies and global financial regulators, I make sure to put in place extensive checks and balances. TripleA is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank. It is also registered with FINCEN, the US Department of The Treasury, and a Payment Institution licence in the EU, under France’s Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR).
Additionally, we are compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organisation that develops recommendations to combat money laundering, terrorism, and organised crime financing.
This ensures that all our partners operate in a fully compliant and regulated environment.
Next, the payment experience has to be seamless and intuitive. It needs to facilitate the purchase for the payer, not serve as a friction point.
This is why I made sure TripleA’s white-label crypto payment user experience is foolproof. We are wallet-agnostic, so crypto owners can pay using any wallet they are using. We also offer instant confirmation to provide the most seamless payment experience.
Last but not least, it has to streamline operations for the merchants.
TripleA’s locked-in exchange rate and instant crypto-to-fiat conversion ensure the merchant receives funds in fiat, according to its listing price, so there is no need to worry about price volatility. Our next-day bank settlement in local currency also optimises their cash flow and ensures operational efficiency.
In the current context where people can be subject to scams, regulators are concerned about money laundering issues. What are the key benefits merchants and PSPs experience when working with a licensed crypto payments gateway?
In short, a licensed crypto payments gateway like TripleA shields merchants and PSPs from all compliance and regulatory concerns that come with accepting cryptocurrencies. Our framework is built to ensure that all partners operate in a fully compliant manner.
As a licensed crypto payments gateway, we have a robust set of policies, procedures, and technologies to prevent money laundering or scams.
Sanction screenings are done on every transaction to detect payments linked to sanctioned individuals, organisations, or activities. We also work with top-class regulatory technology solutions that conduct real-time blockchain analysis for every single payment. Any suspicious activity will be flagged instantly and the payment will be blocked.
To expand a bit on the partnership idea, where do you see most crypto payments adoption, and in what verticals?
TripleA is seeing a steady rise in demand to offer crypto payments across all businesses, which is of course driven by their consumers.
We see high adoption rates on ecommerce retailers and marketplaces, especially within the luxury, hospitality, and gaming verticals.
Many Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and financial institutions are also responding to the market demand and coming on board.
As crypto adoption continues to increase steadily, so does businesses’ interest in accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. Inevitably, as it occurs with all forms of innovation, some businesses are more agile and quicker to adapt to change than others.
Who are the slow adopters of crypto payments and why? What are their main concerns?
They tend to be traditional businesses that are more risk-averse, or slow to adapt to market demand or new technologies. I hear them, and I fully understand their concerns.
Concern 1: Price volatility risk
Many corporations do not want to have cryptocurrency assets on their balance sheets because of the huge fluctuations in values.
Concern 2: Compliance
As expected, businesses are unwilling to deal with the compliance complexities that come with accepting crypto payments.
Concern 3: Not equipped with the right technological resources
Many corporations want to accept crypto payments, but do not have the technological resources or manpower to do so.
Concern 4: Unaware of the benefits of crypto payments
Not all corporations are fully aware of the benefits of crypto payments or have their fingers on the pulse of its market demand.
How can one overcome these hurdles and reap the benefits of crypto payments?
Honestly, the best way to go about it is to work with a licensed crypto payment gateway with a customer-centric payment solution.
The TripleA team has built a product that addresses the specific concerns of merchants. Our payments solutions allow businesses to leverage the benefits of the growing crypto market without having to handle or convert digital currencies.
Addressing Concern 1: Price volatility risk
With our real-time crypto-to-fiat conversion and instant confirmation at the point of payment, TripleA frees corporations from holding and converting digital currencies, thus shielding them from the price volatility risk.
Addressing Concern 2: Compliance
TripleA’s licensed payments solutions have strong compliance processes in place to ensure that the businesses integrated with us will not be used as a vehicle for illegal activities and money laundering.
Addressing Concern 3: Not equipped with the right technological resources
Using TripleA’s white-label solutions allows corporations to focus their resources on their key business needs and go to market quickly with crypto payments. With our easy integration, it is not as big of a hassle to get started with crypto as they think it to be.
Addressing Concern 4: Unaware of the benefits of crypto payments
We take it upon ourselves to share the key benefits: low transaction fees, quicker settlement periods, no chargeback, and the ability to reach new and affluent customer segments.
What advice would you give merchants and PSPs joining the crypto payments bandwagon?
Find the right crypto payments solution partner for your business. Spend some time to make sure that your crypto payments partner is licensed and regulated, to protect your business and your consumers.
A good crypto payments solution provider will also be highly customer-centric. Your customer’s payment experience and security will be at the forefront.
If you’d like to work with TripleA, feel free to reach out to my team at sales@triple-a.io.
This editorial was initially published in our Crypto Payments and Web 3.0 For Banks, Merchants, and PSPs Report. The first edition of our report aims to provide a go-to payment resource of crypto terms and concepts for those interested to understand the basics of crypto payments and their long-term impact. Furthermore, it shares practical examples of cryptocurrency-enabled ecommerce and banking services and presents the latest developments in the regulatory landscape. Also, it reveals what are the most innovative companies in this space, that are building the crypto rails.
About Eric Barbier, CEO of TripleA
Eric Barbier is a successful entrepreneur with >15 years of experience building FinTech & mobile payments companies. Before TripleA, he founded Thunes, a leading B2B payments network, and Mobile365, which was acquired by Sybase (now SAP). He is also the appointed board member of tech companies like AMEEX, STC pay, and Sleek.
About TripleA
TripleA is a cryptocurrency payment gateway licensed by Singapore’s central bank. TripleA simplifies crypto payments for businesses, empowering them to increase revenues by tapping into the spending power of 350+ million crypto users. Its white-label solutions and instant crypto-to-fiat conversion enable businesses to pay and get paid in cryptocurrencies, volatility-free.
