Crunchfish and LISNR Team on Offline Merchants Payments in APAC

Crunchfish, a Swedish company specializing in digital cash platforms, has joined forces with LISNR, a data-over-audio technology solutions provider, to enable offline payments for merchants and banks in the Asia Pacific region.

The joint solution is fully available offline, enabling effortless recognition of consumers at the point of entry, LISNR noted in a Tuesday (Sept. 5) press release, adding that it allows for the delivery of loyalty offers and ensures a secure checkout experience, all through a mobile wallet.

Additionally, the proximity-based payment solution eliminates the limitations of internet connectivity in rural areas, crowded venues, and transportation modes on phones while users are on board airplanes, trains, and ferries. The solution also enables mobile wallet providers to start offering consumers and merchants an end-to-end solution without disrupting payment services. 

Commenting on the deal, LISNR CEO Eric Allen, said that their combined expertise will enable “person-present payments in an ever-changing ecosystem” and “provide a valuable identification and authentication experience for consumers and merchants alike… enabling a safe, secure, and frictionless experience continues to expand financial inclusion and accessibility.”

Patrik Lindeberg, CEO at Crunchfish Digital Cash AB, added that with LISNR helping to facilitate digital cash on a wide variety of use cases, all consumers devices, regardless of region, will have “access to a built-in speaker and microphone, enabling a secure seamless interaction between a payer and payee in proximity” amid growing demand for offline and central bank digital currency (CBDC) payments across the globe.

In January of this year, The People’s Bank of China made a similar move, enabling Android users to make offline payments using digital yuan.

As PYMNTS reported, a new function was added to the bank’s digital yuan app to enable users to make payments from their smartphone using the CBDC, even if the device has no power or internet connection.

Moreover, users of the app on an Android phone can activate the “tap to pay” function and set a limit on the number and value of offline payments that can be made to ease security concerns if their phone gets lost or stolen. Those who have lost a phone can also suspend the offline payment function by logging into the app from another mobile phone, the report said.