Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes Hive Project’s deal with Gosocket for invoice financing. In addition, EBANX is working with Light In The Box for card payments and Ukraine’s government says it doesn’t plan to regulate cryptocurrency mining.
In funding news, Bitkoin Africa has secured funding from early-stage investment fund Microtraction as it seeks to bring together the functions of a crypto exchange with indigenous payment processing solutions, Techcabal reported. With the system, Bitkoin seeks to open the doors to instant remittances and purchases, while making it unnecessary for users to be online for an ongoing trade.
And in South America, EBANX is teaming up with Chinese eCommerce retailer Light In The Box to handle credit and debit card payments for customers in Mexico, The Paypers reported. Mexico is a ripe market for online shopping: the country is Latin America’s second biggest eCommerce market. In 2016, for example, the country generated $7.2 billion in sales. And, in 2017, three out of four people who use the internet in Mexico made one or more purchases online.
On another note, Hive Project has inked a deal with Chile’s Gosocket for a blockchain solution to invoice financing, NBC Right Now reported. With the agreement, the HVN token will be integrated with Gosocket’s Anticipos advanced payment product. Hive Project Partner and CFO Ugur Yildirim said that the tie-up will “not only help catapult our business growth and development in key Latin American markets, but also give us the ability to use Gosocket’s technology in Europe.”
In Europe, Ukraine’s State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection has said that it does not plan to regulate crypto mining, CCN reported. The news comes as miners have kept their operations under wraps out of concern of the potential consequences of such activity. Bitcoin already has potential in Ukraine: In November, the founder of a shipping company in the country said that cryptocurrency could solve problems with payments in areas of the world such as Qatar, Pakistan or Russia.
And Australia’s Verrency has announced the appointment of a new executive as it expands into Europe, the payments provider said in a press release. Peter Vestergaard Larsen, who has more than 25 years of experience, will become the managing director of business development in Europe. In terms of future business, Larsen said the company foresees “a strong demand from E.U. banks for Verrency’s platform, particularly given the increased competition brought about by the recent roll-out of E.U.’s PSD2 and the U.K.’s Open Banking standard.”
