Nexo Partners With UTRUST For Delayed Crypto Payments

To offer consumers delayed payments for purchases, instant loan company Nexo has teamed up with crypto payments firm UTRUST. With the tie-up, UTRUST plans to bring Nexo’s crypto lending capabilities onto its platform, Cryptovest reported.

“One of the main barriers to cryptocurrencies’ mainstream adoption has been an inadequate payment infrastructure and merchant network, limiting consumers’ buying choices and, ultimately, disturbing their purchasing experience,” Nexo Managing Partner Georgi Shulev said in an announcement. “The partnership between Nexo and UTRUST is intended to correct this deficiency and empower buyers and merchants alike to tap into the unlimited capabilities of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

With the tie-up, the companies said that owners of cryptocurrencies will benefit by being able to make purchases and keep their cryptocurrencies to benefit from possible future “value appreciation.” For merchants, the companies said the partnership provides them with more flexible payment options.

The news comes as Bitbond, a German online bank that lets clients transfer loans around the globe using bitcoin, launched earlier this year. It was licensed as a bank in 2016 and has gained many more investors since then. Reuters, citing Founder Radoslav Albrecht, reported that Bitbond uses cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to get around the SWIFT international transfer system in order to lend money globally at a lower cost and in a faster time frame. According to the report, this is the first time bitcoin is being used to transfer credit around the globe.

“Traditional money transfers are relatively costly due to currency exchange fees, and can take up to a few days,” Albrecht had told Reuters TV. “With Bitbond, payments work independently of where customers are. Via internet, it is very, very quick and the fees are low.”

Bitbond clients hold the loans in digital tokens for a few seconds or minutes, and then they are exchanged back into the currency of the country where the person is receiving the funds. This avoids the fluctuations in the price of cryptocurrencies.