The Noah Project and PayRemit: the alliance that drives progress
A huge part of the world’s population uses online platforms to pay for goods and services. The Statistics Portal estimated that in 2017 1.66 billion people worldwide purchased goods online. During the same year, global e-retail sales amounted to 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars and they forecast a growth of up to 4.48 trillion U.S. dollars by 2021. So, most forward-thinking companies have already joined e-commerce. If customers shouldn’t go to the bank, then how to process the transactions between them and the sellers?
Meet payment gateways — software and services platforms that enable money transfers with authorizing credit cards or via direct payments (for unbanked customers).
Nowadays there are hundreds of payment gateways serving different spheres of e-commerce. The best known are Amazon Payments, PayPal, WePay, 2Checkout and many others. Although for now they don’t provide payments in cryptocurrency, modern payment gateways understand that they need to implement blockchain technologies to get to the top — and have already started to do it. Bitcoin Magazine provided information that IDC has estimated that global spending on blockchain solutions will reach a total of $9.2 billion by 2021. Why?
Blockchain for online retail
The blockchain as a decentralized, public ledger of transactions is safe because each transaction is maintained on each computer taking part in this operation. The transactions cost is very low, thus creating perfect opportunities for the next-generation of e-commerce platforms. From a business perspective, it’s a promising solution to improve business processes, such as collaboration between companies making the “cost of trust” much lower. For example, they can record the terms and conditions of transactions with the help of smart contracts providing transparency and fulfillment of obligations. So while many people worry about online privacy and security turning off traditional e-commerce, the blockchain technology is working on minimizing risks and encouraging even greater acceptance of e-commerce among consumers.
Blockchain is tightly connected with cryptocurrencies because it actually enables their existence. The full amount of cryptocurrencies on market has risen at least by 800% so far this year. Investors are increasingly recognizing Bitcoin and altcoins as promising long-term investments , contributing them to loads of developing blockchain-based companies.
So these companies introduce transactions and exchange of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin:
- Shopify allows users to create their own online stores like Etsy and eBay.
- AlfaCoins offers the same bitcoin payment integration that other processors do. Incoming payments can be split between cryptocurrency and fiat, and it supports Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. The transaction fee is 0.99%, typical of most processors.
- CoinGate processes Bitcoin and 40+ Altcoins, and will immediately transfer payments back to Euros or USD, once a customer has made payment.
- GoCoin has coded and implemented its payment processing on most major shopping platforms (e.g., Magento, Shopify).
- Bitpay is famous for its simplicity, specifically with shopping cart plugins.
- GoURL has integration with all website pages and no navigation to external payment pages. Conversion is not automatic, so the rate will depend on what it is at the exact time of conversion.
- Coinbase allows creating a sleek, straightforward mobile-friendly checkout experience for the customers.
- PayRemit allows customers to simply transact online, then go to selected remittance counters to pay.
The majority of online transactions are made while shopping. The same situation is happening with crypto payments. Both businesses and customers benefit from using virtual currencies, because there are minimal fees (compared to bank transactions), high level of security (due to the blockchain technology) and an opportunity to use crypto wallets on any device, like a smartphone, PC, tablet or wearables. The latter is especially important for people who are unbanked, such as Filipino workers abroad — now they can easily buy anything for them and their families online — without bank accounts. The purchases are secured and nobody can get an access to personal data and use it for any purposes. Since there are no financial intermediaries (like banks), you don’t have to pay high fees for transactions or wait for a long time to make a cross-border payment. Moreover, without this third party the transactions can’t be declined.
How does it work in reality?
Let’s explore it on the example of PayRemit that collaborates with the Noah Project to make lives of Filipino workers residing overseas much easier.
PayRemit is a big payment gateway which allows online merchants to accept payments from OFWs who do not have credit cards. The Noah Project issues its own Noah Coins for use in the ecosystem, and PayRemit expands the channels for faster and safer payments that are different from the traditional methods. Paying in Noah Coin people can easily buy things online from different devices. To make a purchase the customer chooses a necessary item at the online store, selects PayRemit as a way of payment, receives his unique PayRemit Reference Number and uses it to make payments with Noah Coins.
Actually, this new payment option can become a breakthrough for Filipinos and the whole world in general. In their alliance, the Noah Project and PayRemit break the walls of bank-dependent payments and bring huge benefits for consumers and themselves. This collaboration will help millions of Filipino migrant workers buy necessary goods and services for their families using Noah Coins in any of PayRemit’s partner outlets.
They include such platforms as:
- Sendah (a gift remittance & payment platform)
- Goldilocks (a bake-shop chain based in the Philippines)
- BeamAndGo (a service offering purchasing groceries, medicine and other life’s essentials online)
- Sarisari (an e-gift platform with flowers toys, gifts and food package delivery), etc.
They can also use Noah Coins to pay for:
- telecommunications services (PLDT, Globe)
- electricity bills (Meralco),
- flight tickets of the Philippines’ leading airline — Cebu Pacific Air,
- government services (PhilHealth, Pag-ibig, Social Security Services).
For the Noah Project, it’s a great opportunity to erase geographical borders and improve transaction and remittance processes, allowing Noah Coin holders to get access to the PayRemit’s wide range of online stores and service platforms.
