HOW GOLD CAN EASE B2B PAYMENT FRICTION

HOW GOLD CAN EASE 

B2B PAYMENT FRICTION

By PYMNTS @pymnts

What's Next In Payments®

8:13 AM EDT August 19th, 2015

Gold-based financial services and technology firm GoldMoney has just made it easier for businesses to conduct payments with the metal. On Tuesday (Aug. 18) the company revealed that its BitGold “Aurum” settlement services are now integrated with nine leading U.S. financial institutions via ACH.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, U.S. Bank, USAA, Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Capital One all now support the BitGold settlement technology known as Aurum.

According to GoldMoney, the update to the technology means BitGold is now NACHA-compliant and can facilitate instant online transactions and settlements with the nine banks, reducing friction of gold-to-currency payments.

“Unlike traditional ACH confirmations which can require several days for users to verify a credit into their account,” GoldMoney said in its announcement, “the Aurum integration allows BitGold platform users to verify and link their accounts in an innovative real-time authorization process.”

Users of the BitGold platform that also have an account at one of the nine banks will now gain access to instant deposit or redemption services.

BitGold said the tool is an alternative to fee-heavy bank wires and does not force a transaction minimum on users. The service also reduces paperwork and lessens the chance for human error that can occur when transactions are manually processed.

According to GoldMoney CEO Roy Sebag, the service has implications for a wide array of scenarios, including B2B payments. “Today’s integration connects Aurum directly to millions of checking, savings and investment accounts in the U.S., which also paves the way for gold payment processing and commercial C2C, B2B and B2C transactions using gold as the lowest-friction global payments rail for merchants.”

For BitGold CEO Darrell MacMullin, the integration of Aurum with the nine banks is an accomplishment for the effort towards frictionless global payments. “We’ve now enabled the most modern interaction with U.S. banking systems for enhanced verification, security and unprecedented simplicity in buying and storing vaulted gold for U.S. bank customers,” he said in a statement.

BITGOLD SEALS $60M GOLDMONEY DEAL

BitGold has officially completed a deal worth nearly $60 million that has it closer to building its global-full-reserve and gold-based financial service business.

The sale marks the first move for BitGold, a platform for savings and payments in gold, toward officially changing its name to GoldMoney once the combination of the businesses officially pass through regulatory measures. The BitGold acquisition will not interrupt GoldMoney’s financial services, and BitGold’s platform will still maintain its separate services. Moving forward, BitGold plans to develop a global end-to-end payments and international transfer network.

“We are pleased to complete the GoldMoney acquisition and further reveal our plans to build a global, cross-segment financial service platform,” BitGold CEO Roy Sebag said in a news release. “By combining the unique attributes of gold with the real-time connectivity of the of the smartphone revolution, we’re able to build a global network for savings and transactions that substantially removes credit and settlement risk for both savers and merchants.”

The acquisition will make it possible for BitGold — soon to be GoldMoney — to establish itself as a global, full-reserve financial service network in the payments, international transfers and remittance, in-app and micro payments market. BitGold also has plans to restructure its organization once the two businesses are combined, but no specific details were given about that.

“Gold is a significant percentage of global base-money, owned in every country and across every income segment, but with no modern ‘banking’ or payment apps,” BitGold co-founder Josh Crumb commented. “Many multibillion dollar markets are ripe for innovation and disruption in a new technological age for money and real-time international transactions. The GoldMoney team has made significant strides toward this vision over the past 15 years, we’re excited to combine efforts and realize this mission.”