With advanced technological developments, virtual currency exchange methods have been invented and evolved rapidly in past few years, and have emerged and commonly known now, all around the world as ‘cryptocurrencies”. Prior to then, virtual currencies were initially limited for demonstrable transactions in social and gaming economies. digital currency

The cryptocurrencies were aimed to eliminate financial intermediaries by direct peer-to-peer transactions. Most of the developing countries like the U.S., Germany, China, and the U.K. have started adopting cryptocurrencies as an exchanging medium.

The terms used for the digital currency varies from country to country, such as payment token (Switzerland), digital currency (Thailand, Australia, and, Argentina), crypto-token (Germany), virtual commodity (Taiwan, China, and Canada), virtual asset (Honduras and Mexico), cyber currency (Italy and Lebanon), and electronic currency (Colombia and Lebanon).

Recent reports project that this market is primed to continue its revenue growth for several years to come. A report from Fortune Business Insights said that the global cryptocurrency market size stood at USD 754.0 million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 1,758.0 million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.2% during the forecast period.  Active Companies in the merchant industry include The OLB Group, Inc., GreenBox POS,  Mogo, Inc., Riot Blockchain, Inc., Marathon Patent Group, Inc.

The Fortune Business Insights report continued: “The increasing popularity of digital assets like Bitcoin and Litecoin is likely to drive the market growth in the forthcoming years. Moreover, digital currency is also often utilized with the integration of blockchain technology to attain decentralization and controlled efficient transactions. The block-chain technology offers decentralized, fast, transparent, secure, and reliable transactions. With these advantages of blockchain and cryptocurrency, companies are investing and collaborating with other companies to deliver efficient and quality services to the users.”

OLB’s SecurePay ^TM Payment Gateway to Enable Merchants to Seamlessly Offer Cryptocurrency Payments – The OLB Group, Inc., a provider of cloud- based omnicommerce and payment acceptance solutions for small and mid-size merchants, announced it has upgraded its SecurePay payment gateway system to support Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and DAI across all merchant platforms. Merchants utilizing the OLB SecurePay gateway service or the OmniSoft cloud-based business management platform will immediately have the option to accept these alternative contactless payment methods without any equipment changes. Our systems will be wallet agnostic and, integrating them with third-party software, customers will be able to seamlessly pay with Cryptocurrency wallets such as MetaMask^TM,  Coinbase Wallet ^TM,  Crypto.com and Trust Wallets ^TM.

Ronny Yakov, CEO of OLB, said, “Providing all the latest technologies and tools to merchants is our top priority. It is imperative to adjust to these times as the world becomes further integrated with digital currencies. By enabling our merchants the ability to accept digital payments, it will also help enhance the funds available for every merchant that opts in, as these forms of payments settle instantly, providing small businesses with more flexibility and agility. By 2027, the global payments industry is projected to be 8.94 Trillion USD and according to Statista there are 66 million users of Cryptocurrency wallets, according to Fortune Business Insights”

SercurePay is compatible with mobile, tablet-based and cloud infrastructure and will be integrated into the merchants current payment ecosystem, in order to enable the acceptance of Cryptocurrency payments. Merchants interested in implementing omnicommerce services or accepting crypto within their existing payment infrastructure can set up an account at https://cryptoaccept.com.

Other recent developments in the eCommerce/Merchant industry include: digital currency

GreenBox POS, an emerging financial technology company leveraging proprietary blockchain security to build customized payment solutions, recently announced it will be adding Secure Token Technology as part of its stabilized Gen3 software offering, with preference to early adopters and existing users of the Company’s current ecosystem.

Recent national developments are bringing blockchain to mainstream transactional environments,  such as the letter of the OCC], Banking for All Act, and the appointment of Mr. Gary Gensler as Head of SEC. Most notably from the letter handed down from the OCC they state: “This letter addresses the authority of a national bank to hold deposits that serve as reserves for certain “stablecoins.” Generally, a stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to have a stable value as compared with other types of cryptocurrency, which frequently experience significant volatility. One type of stablecoin is backed by an asset such as a fiat currency. Reports suggest stablecoins have various applications, including the potential to enhance payments on a broad scale, and are increasingly in demand.” 

Mogo, Inc., a digital payments and financial technology company, recently reported strong month-over-month growth in several key metrics in January related to its bitcoin account as an increasing number of Canadians look to gain access to this emerging digital asset.  Highlights include: A 141% increase in new bitcoin account additions in January compared with December; and A 323% increase in the dollar value of bitcoin traded on the Mogo platform in January versus December

“In January, we continued to experience growing demand for new MogoCrypto accounts and increasing transaction activity among members, highlighted by a more than 300% month-over-month increase in trading volume,” said David Feller, Mogo’s Founder and CEO. “We believe this product offers significant long-term growth opportunity for Mogo. There are more than $13 trillion in assets¹ held by Canadians and, while bitcoin continues to gain credibility as an asset class, the majority of Canadians do not own or have exposure to it. Our app offers a simple, transparent and low-cost way to buy and sell bitcoin, and members also benefit from our other financial health solutions, all integrated into one seamless, easy-to-use, digital account.”

Riot Blockchain, Inc., one of the few NASDAQ-listed bitcoin mining companies in the United States, recently announced the appointment of Jason Les as Chief Executive Officer, and that Hannah Cho has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, as an independent director.