Blockchain Gets Off The Ground In B2B Payments

Blockchain captures the spotlight in this week’s B2B Payment Rail Innovation roundup, with community banks in the U.S. embracing the technology to fuel small business payments innovation. Meanwhile, one FinTech touts the progress it’s already made wielding blockchain for B2B transactions.

Paystand Marks B2B Payments Volume On Blockchain

Paystand is touting a new milestone of B2B payments volume on its network as a demonstration of the capabilities for blockchain to enable more efficient transacting. The company recently announced that its blockchain payments network has now seen more than $2 billion in payment volume.

“There’s no question that blockchain is the unstoppable future for every essential business function, and Paystand has been pioneering blockchain applications for enterprise since 2013,” said Jeremy Almond, Paystand’s co-founder and CEO. “In the same way that the birth of the internet led to a universal shift in the way we produce and consume information, blockchain has the ability to transform every aspect of how we do business. We’re excited to make that transformation a reality in the realm of B2B payments.”

PayPal, Fiserv Collaborate On Venmo Paychecks

PayPal and Fiserv are collaborating to wield the current ACH network to facilitate payroll payouts within Venmo accounts. The companies said in a recent announcement that their collaboration will focus on gig economy workers looking to receive payments into either their PayPal or Venmo account (though the firms also acknowledged that their collaboration can also apply to B2C payment use cases as well as other scenarios such as insurance payouts).

In their announcement, the companies said businesses can migrate away from the challenges and costs of paper checks. Fiserv will offer its Carat solution, which also facilitates payouts via the ACH and card rails, to move funds into professionals’ digital wallets.

Australia’s NPP Considers B2B Payments Opportunity

In a recent conversation with PYMNTS, Azupay CEO John Murphy discussed the growing traction of Australia’s real-time account-to-account payment rail New Payment Platform (NPP) and potential opportunities for the infrastructure to improve B2B payment workflows.

The company recently announced its integration with Xero, which will allow small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to generate invoices within Xero to include a QR code. That code allows recipients of the invoices to use NPP to make real-time payments on the invoice via PayID technology.

Though the solution can target consumer payers, it’s no stretch to consider the potential for the solution to support B2B transactions as well.

“B2B payments is certainly an important area for us,” Murphy told PYMNTS. “The way businesses pay each other hasn’t really changed for decades. The New Payments Platform infrastructure, coupled with Azupay’s unique solution, has the capacity to completely modernize B2B payments in an always-on world.”

Read More: Australia’s NPP Discovers Inroads To B2B Payments Traction

National Bank Holdings Invests In Blockchain For SMBs

National Bank Holdings, a bank holding company that operates an array of community banks, recently made a strategic investment in blockchain — potentially as infrastructure to facilitate small business payments. In its recent announcement highlighting efforts to revamp SMB banking offerings, National Bank Holdings said it invested in Figure Technologies, which will result in collaborations to explore use cases and applications of blockchain technology.

The firm specifically highlighted ways to encourage innovation as well as consider speed and convenience for payments, investments and other financial transactions.