Swiss payment startup Centi announces the launch of its Swiss Franc pegged stablecoin, backed 1:1 by a Swiss bank, which will “serve as the basis for Centi’s groundbreaking Global Payment Network.”
Combining the efficiency of blockchain technology with the rigor of Swiss banking, Centi has developed “a comprehensive payment processing engine that solely relies on a cutting edge web3 infrastructure, a technology first use-case of many to follow.”
Centi’s solution “allows merchants to get direct payment settlement into their banks in their fiat currency of choice without the need to change accounting procedures or have any crypto knowledge, providing them with the same service they are used to from the Credit Card industry while cutting fee costs by up to 99%.”
Established in March 2020 by a team of Swiss and European experts, Centi is “on a mission to provide buyers and sellers with real economic power by eliminating hidden fees and costs charged by the Credit Card industry.”
By allowing for direct settlement between buyers and sellers, Centi’s stablecoin eliminates the need “for involving deep-pocketed intermediaries, and in doing so completely reimagines the four-party Credit Card model that has been running largely unchecked since the early 1970s.”
Fully backed by a Swiss Bank guarantee and running on a highly performant blockchain, the Centi Swiss Franc stablecoin “can be considered the closest implementation to date of what is known as a CBDC: Central Bank Digital Currency.”
With the addition of merchant acceptance technology and a consumer app, Centi is currently delivering “the blueprint for how payment processing with a CBDC and bankable fiat on-off ramps could and should work.”
Through the use of its low-cost, frictionless and ultra-efficient transaction model “built on a micropayments facilitation foundation, Centi’s Global Payment Network combines all the advantages of cash and electronic payments with the enhanced flexibility, value for money, and greater efficiency of digital solutions.”
It offers seamless “integration with online, POS, and cashier payment systems, and it leverages blockchain technology to offer 90% cheaper fees than competitors like Paypal, VISA, and Mastercard.”
Bernhard Müller, CEO and Founder of Centi, says:
“With Centi we have created a new payments universe. Our technology uses the efficiency of the blockchain to lower payment processing fees without requiring users to understand anything about crypto. Our payments solution is a first use case implementation of this technology with many others expected to follow it. The system itself is built around open API principles, allowing third party developers to build their own apps on top of it. All of this is tremendously exciting.”
As noted in the update, Centi Ltd claims it is “a pioneering web3 payment infrastructure solutions company bridging the gap between highly performant and efficient blockchain technology and the safety of Swiss banking.”
Centi’s innovative payment processing stablecoin solution “provides consumers and merchants with a lower-cost, easy-to-use alternative to legacy payment processing systems like Visa, MasterCard and others.”
As its use of web3 technology benefits both buyers and sellers while reducing intermediary fees by up to 99%, Centi claims it is “a true game-changer and much more than just another payment option.”
