Novatti’s general manager of merchant acquiring, Kian Jackson, details the company’s push into crypto payments.

Fintech company Novatti (ASX:NOV) is getting on the front foot in crypto payments, with the launch of an expanded gateway service for digital assets.

It marks another step forward in the company’s multi-channel approach to growth, after it booked record half-year sales revenue of $7.35m in the six months to December.

Ahead of the launch, Stockhead caught up with Kian Jackson – Novatti’s general manager for merchant acquiring – who’s spearheading the application of the company’s technology in crypto payments.

Novatti recruited Jackson from B2B payments companiesSecurePay and POLi payments (subsidiaries of Australia Post) that worked with over 90,000 business, where he headed up a 100-strong team.

Through his payments career that spanned roles in Europe and Australia, Jackson got direct exposure to the crypto ecosystem leading up to the first market boom in 2015.

In 2021, crypto adoption is more widespread. But there are still a number of layers required to enable broader payments functionality, and that’s where Novatti is building a solution.
 

Novatti’s crypto payment gateway

“If you compare crypto to traditional online payment processing – right now any business can come to us today, set up an account and we can have them accepting payments on the same day,” Jackson explained.

“Regulatory developments allow that because you’ve got the requisite checks and processes in place. But in crypto, a lot of these features aren’t available.”

Novatti views the bridging of that gap between traditional and crypto payments as a market opportunity, in the wake of broader industry adoption which has seen major US companies such as Square, PayPal and Tesla announce plans to foster crypto payments.

Accompanying that news flow, the price of Bitcoin has risen around six-fold since October, from $US10,000 to new all-time highs above $US60,000.

“I think Bitcoin especially has the possibility of becoming more of a monetary network, not only an asset, which could definitely change how financial infrastructure works going forward,” Jackson said.

“And for us as a payments company, it’s about being ready to enable digital currencies to be used safely and securely for everyday transactions”

Jackson said that right now, merchants looking to accept crypto have limited options. They can connect directly to a crypto exchange but that requires an integration process, and their customer base is limited to clients of that exchange.

“So what we’re building is a direct payment gateway between holders of cryptocurrency and businesses,” Jackson said.

“It’s acting more like a traditional payments gateway, but our focus is to make sure we still replicate the safety and protection mechanisms that sit around that existing ecosystem.”

“For a consumer, that means whatever wallet you store crypto in, you’re able to use it as a payment option through Novatti.”

“For a business, Novatti will provide the platform to accept crypto as payment.”

The company has filed a patent application, which gives it intellectual property protection through the development process.

And Jackson said now is the perfect time to start scaling up infrastructure solutions as crypto continues to integrate with the global financial system.

“If you look at the payment giants like Visa and Mastercard, they’re already thinking about the digital currency landscape and how they approach it. Novatti is doing the same. We’re getting ahead of the curve to power the payments of tomorrow and ensure we are exposed to any growth in this market.

This article was developed in collaboration with Novatti, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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