Speaking on stage at BlockShow 2019 in Singapore today, Alchemy Global Payment Solutions (Alchemy GPS) co-founder Patrick Ngan discussed some details of how his company is making it easier to pay for everyday goods and services with cryptocurrency.
Ngan emphasized the power of choice to make consumers and merchants happier. Calling his company’s “the first unified crypto-fiat payment solution in Asia,” he described a merchant product that lets the customer decide whether they want to pay in local fiat currency or a popular cryptocurrency of their choice.
“People in this audience probably have a lot of Bitcoin,” Ngan said. “Instead of trading that currency, we can give you the chance to freely spend it on that expensive bottle of Dom Perignon, or a fancy handbag.”
The Alchemy GPS merchant app is already available for download from Google Play and the App Store. It supports a number of payment systems popular throughout Asia, including Alipay, WeChat Pay, Paynow, and Rakuten Pay, as well as major cryptocurrencies.
Businesses have the choice of how want to settle their accounts — if they can tolerate the volatility, then it’s no problem for them to be paid in crypto. But Alchemy GPS can also support fiat settlement for keeping more conventional books.
Ngan explained that the ultimate goal here is to drive cryptocurrency adoption. “We want to enable all the popular crypto tokens out there to be accepted by our merchant system. Anyone who buys tokens should be able to easily spend them.”
Alchemy GPS is already up and running in Singapore and Hong Kong today — if you’re attending BlockShow, then you can already pay for local cab rides with crypto.
Ngan ended his presentation by announcing plans for expansion to other crypto-friendly countries. He named Japan, Korea, and Thailand specifically, with later plans to enter the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
