Coalition Including Ripple, GoPay Launches Universal PayID

More than 40 different FinTechs, digital currency companies and nonprofits are teaming up to launch a universal payment ID in a bid to make transferring money akin to sending an email.

Members of the newly-formed Open Payments Coalition, which include GoPay, Ripple, Blockchain.com, BitPay, Brave, Flutterwave, and Mercy Corps, say the newly minted PayID will enable customers to send and receive money across any of their payment networks without the hassle of dealing with credit card or bank routing numbers.

Overall, it is part of an even larger effort to spur the adoption of digital payments across the world and “break down the proprietary silos and standards that exist in payments,” the group said in a press release.

“The international, cross-border payments industry has been ripe for disruption and we see PayID playing a pivotal role in achieving that,” Gaurav Dahake, CEO of BitBNS, said in the release. “We are excited to facilitate borderless, frictionless instant transactions for free for users.”

At the core of the new system is an email-address-like, easily read ID that can be used to send and receive money across the networks of any of digital currency networks operated by the Open Payments Coalition.

According to the coalition, member companies and organizations currently reach 100 million consumers and customers.

The new PayID is the first major effort to focus on tying together different digital payment networks, as opposed to connecting individuals, the Open Payments Coalition said.

The payment network was also designed to be in compliance with the relevant federal and international regulations regarding money transfers, providing “end-to-end Travel Rule compliance solution for satisfying both FinCEN requirements and FATF recommendations.”

“We’re supportive of initiatives like PayID that have the potential to bridge the worlds of crypto and traditional finance, opening up the opportunity for greater adoption and use,” Xen Baynham-Herd, COO of Blockchain.com, said in the press release.