Enabling cryptocurrency payments for even more people

Introducing the SPEDN app for Android, and the roadmap for Flexa’s international expansion

Since we launched our real-time cryptocurrency payments network just eight weeks ago, the Flexa team has been hard at work scaling and reinforcing platform infrastructure while broadening the reach of our network to even more people and places across the United States. With the recent addition of our newest merchant partners, Flexa-powered payments in five different cryptocurrencies are now accepted at 39,321 locations.

At the same time, we’ve also been preparing to scale other aspects of the Flexa network. In the coming months, we’ll launch the Flexa staking index, which enables Flexacoin holders to collateralize and earn rewards from facilitating payments made with Flexa-powered wallets like SPEDN.

All along the way, we’ve received some incredible, supportive, and constructive feedback from our community:

…But we’re just getting started. As we’ve stated many times in the past, it’s our dream to enable merchants to accept cryptocurrency wherever payments take place around the globe — and from whatever kind of smartphone.

So today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our beta program for the SPEDN Android app, as well as two more major milestones along the path to international adoption.

SPEDN is now on Android

Thus far, the reaction to SPEDN (the first app that we developed to demonstrate the power of the Flexa Wallet SDK) has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve been grinding day and night to keep up with demand on the network, and we’ve invited thousands of people to use our iOS app since its launch at Consensus. We’re still not quite ready to open SPEDN to the general public — even though we sent out another 5,000 invites just last week — but we’re looking forward to making the app available to everyone soon.

We’ve heard from several of you that SPEDN is “fast, efficient, and no hassle” and “easier than using a debit card.” But we’ve also had hundreds of you ask when SPEDN would be available for the other major mobile operating system, and whether we were working on bringing the Flexa Wallet SDK to platforms beside iOS.

Today, we’re delighted to share that the SPEDN app is now available in beta for devices running Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and later — which represents approximately 86% of all Android devices in active use today.

If you have a compatible Android device and would like to try SPEDN for yourself, sign up now to receive an invitation for the Google Play Store beta:

Flexa is going international

While we believe that enabling Android support is a critical first step toward making Flexa’s technology available to even more people around the world, we also recognize that demand to spend cryptocurrency exists in far more places than just the United States.

From day one, we’ve taken pride in our approach to licensure and regulatory compliance, and have taken steps to help protect not only the merchants on the network, but also every single person using Flexa to spend.

As we work to make Flexa available in more countries, we’re also incredibly careful to ensure that we adhere to local laws and regulations concerning cryptocurrency payments. This diligence takes a significant amount of time and effort, but we just don’t believe there’s any better way to build a robust and reliable network — especially not one that will eventually support high volumes of cryptocurrency payments all over the globe.

With that said, we’re proud to share that just over a month from now, we plan to launch Flexa in the first major market outside of the United States. We have an incredible set of brands lined up to help welcome residents of this next country to the world of instant cryptocurrency payments, and we couldn’t be more excited to share the news with you soon.

Just like all Flexa payments currently being processed in the US, every payment facilitated in this next market will rely on Flexacoin (FXC) collateralization to secure unconfirmed cryptocurrency transactions and protect the network from fraud. Therefore, as we gear up for launch in Flexa’s second country, you can be sure that we’ll be sharing much more detailed information about Flexacoin staking and rewards.

But before we get to launching staking and payments for this next market, we have one more announcement to make.

Flexacoin is now on Bittrex International

As of today, Flexacoin (FXC) is now available to buy and sell on Bittrex International for non–US residents. It’s been quite some time in the making, but we’re proud to partner with Bittrex International in order to enable people around the world to access and use Flexacoin collateral tokens.

As one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges, Bittrex International knows the industry inside and out. After all, many of the earliest members of the cryptocurrency community already have Bittrex International accounts — which fits perfectly with our vision of building cryptocurrency payments for cryptocurrency’s earliest adopters, by cryptocurrency’s earliest adopters.

With Flexacoin trading on Bittrex International, we’re taking a giant leap forward in enabling the Flexa network to facilitate instant, no-fee, fraud-free payments globally. It’s now easier than ever for people all over the world to take part in Flexa’s vision of mainstream cryptocurrency payments, and soon, to stake those payments themselves while earning rewards for collateralizing every purchase.

Stay tuned…

It goes without saying, but we would have never been able to launch the Flexa network or SPEDN without the help of our growing community of Flexa friends and supporters on Twitter and Telegram. To have Flexa SDKs working on almost every major smartphone device and to have our launch abroad in sight is an incredible milestone for our team and our mission.

To each and every one of you — thank you! We appreciate your support and can’t wait to see where we can all take Flexa from here.