AdaPay is Cardano’s gateway solution for payments. It is implemented by COTI and the system is developed on COTI’s Universal Payment Solution platform. The solution allows merchants to accept payments in Cardano’s native token ADA with a near-instant settlement into 35 fiat currencies directly into their bank accounts. The point of sale system based on QR codes is available. AdaPay went live on 29 November 2019.
The panelists for this Cardano Shelley Summit 2020 session included
Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO Coti Group
Dr. Nir Haloani, CTO Coti Group
About Coti
Coti is the currency of the internet. It fully encompasses finance on the blockchain ecosystem that is designed specifically to meet the challenges of traditional finance. This specifically includes fees, latency, global inclusion, risk, etc. Coti introduces a new type of DAG which is scalable, fast, private, low cost. The ecosystem includes a DAG Based blockchain and a Proof of Trust Consensus algorithm. It is a global trust system that enables you to check how reliable your counterparty is. It can process both credit cards and cryptocurrencies. Coti currently processes about $7 Billion a month. They offer both consumer and merchant applications.
Coti’s Adapay Gateway
AdaPay is a way for an online merchant to accept ADA as a form of payment. A user sends ADA from his wallet to the merchant’s gateway. The merchant has an almost near-instant settlement. He can convert the cryptocurrency to 35 fiat currencies globally.
All payments sent via AdaPay are on-chain payments, made in Cardano Blockchain. After the account is set up, a user gets access to the dashboard.
Coti is developing fiat on-ramp for a while, looking into the future. They also support connectivity to the DeFi space directly through wallets.
Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO Coti Group, went through a list of questions and answered them to the best extent possible. Below is an excerpt.
Does AdaPay have aspirations to integrate with other Point of Sales software solutions?
This is a decision which the Cardano Foundation will take. But what I can tell you is that it is a highly fragmented market, not only globally, but also on a country basis. There are a lot of providers. Many are not cloud-connected. You have to sign a deal with a legacy provider. It is a lengthy process. We found some global providers who have very good outreach and APIs. Once we solve the provider problem, for sure, we can connect Coti solution and Ada to point of sale software.
When are you going to get AdaPay in Shopify?
Getting Adapay on Shopify is easy. We do have it in our pack.
Who pays for AdaPay service, merchants, or users?
The merchants pay for the AdaPay service. It’s a small fee compared to what he would pay for credit card processing.
Do you see a larger partnership between Coti and Ada which goes beyond AdaPay?
Coti has a very good relationship with Cardano Foundation and even Charles Hoskinson himself. We are working on different new things on Shelly. We will let you know once it is ready.
How are staking rewards managed in the AdaPay system?
All transactions in our network, regardless of the original currency are put on the Coti Chain. Node Operators and Stakers get rewarded with Coti Tokens.
Who are your Competitors?
We are doing a wide range of things. We are not competitors of Ripple and Stellar. Our competitors are traditional systems like Paypal.
What are the plans to get merchants to adopt AdaPay?
Once the solution is there it is super easy and takes a few minutes to onboard. It depends on how Cardano wants to implement it.
Can AdaPay be added to a Mobile application?
AdaPay can be added to a mobile application. We can do this through APIs or SDK or direct implementation.
Will you have an Ada Debit card?
This is not something Coti is doing. It is up to Cardano. Most of the card partners are pretty much the same. They are not related directly to a certain cryptocurrency.
How are you interlacing with regulators regarding payments and loans?
Payments and loans are different processes with different regulatory requirements. Transacting with cryptocurrency needs a set of licenses. Transacting with Fiat needs a different license. If you want to store balance for your user, that is a different License. Coti has the first 2 licenses. Giving loans to people is a Banking license. That is far more complicated.
Presence of Coti in other countries.
Coti is working globally. We would be happy to help any interested parties.
Do you provide a crypto wallet?
We provide a crypto wallet for merchants. Merchants will be able to convert Ada to fiat. The process will take about 24 hours.
How do you get noticed?
We can settle instantly, compared to legacy systems. Legacy providers hold your payment for more than a day, sometimes a week.
What is your opinion about Stablecoins?
Stablecoins will prevail when it comes to payment. The crypto space is volatile and stable coins provide an opportunity. Stable coins are the best way to do payments. We will integrate a stable coin built on Cardano.
When will AdaPay be available?
AdaPay is already available.
Would there be a partnership with Utrust?
We haven’t spoken to Utrust lately. But we are very open to talking to any interested party. Our prime focus is around payments. We want to build infrastructure around finance. Our chain can be the infrastructure of a digital bank. Right now the focus is to integrate merchants. We have Celsius as a partner.
Conclusion
To have a look and feel of AdaPay gateway in action, Coti has created a demo Coti store. users can purchase a personalized COTI image for $0.50.
The Cardano Shelly Summit 2020, is one of the best things which has happened to crypto in 2020. The event had tightly organized focussed events that concentrated only on important topics. It tried to remove the glamour as much as possible. We saw Scientists, Community Members, Enterprises, Businessmen, IT Legends, all talking sense.
Previously, we covered Ouroboros, as explained by IOHK researchers. Stay tuned, we have more updates from Cardano Shelley Summit 2020.
Also read: Cardano and Coti Release AdaPay
