Haven’t you heard of Pundi X?

Ok, so I thought our first blog will be “Hello World”. But ever since we came out of the woodwork a couple of weeks ago, I have been asked this question a few times. So what could be a better way to start off our story by addressing the elephant in the room.

Photo by Lauren Roberts on Unsplash

From what I understand, Pundi X is essentially a Point of Sale (PoS) payment terminal which besides taking normal card payments, can accept payments in cryptocurrencies — which is great for “people who want to pay in crytocurrencies”

Pundi XPOS not only facilitates cryptocurrency payment or transactions but also accepts transactions through mobile wallets and bank cards. Our POS solution can support retail intelligence, inventory management, order management, marketing and loyalty programs. Pundi XPOS device is an all-in-one solution for retailers. - From https://pundix.com/

I think their PoS terminal looks great and given that they’ve raised a ton of money with their ICO, I’m sure that there is a big demand for people who’ve been playing with cryptocurrencies to easily buy and sell these digital assets at a retail store.

The problem is not with the method

However I have been buying and selling cryptocurrencies for over a year now, but to be honest, never had an urge to buy my next tech gadget with it — and for one simple reason: volatility

If I pay in BTC, ETH or dozen other digital currencies in my wallet, I may come out of the store happy today thinking how I was able to buy my pair of Bluetooth headphones worth $150 with the TokenX I bought for $100 last month, but then a week later regret when that same TokenX is now worth $200!

Just because a store can now accept cryptocurrencies does not mean people want to pay in cyrptocurrency too. Its almost like I should start accepting wheat because I think people are dying to pay in wheat!

“Men shake hands out of focus in a wheat field” by Warren Wong on Unsplash

At the moment, perhaps there is less that 0.01% of the world’s population who actually want to spend their volatile bitcoins or ethers to buy a coffee.

Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash

In another example, every modern contactless POS terminal these days accepts Apple and Google pay, but less than 5% people actually use it over their credit/debit cards.

On another note watch:

Why mobile payments are a mess by CNET

And I think it’s not just me. Let’s look at the statistics here. The reality is that retail industry isn't quite the early adopter of technology.

Just for everyone’s reference: Apple Pay came out in 2014, while Google Pay (Wallet) has been around since 2011

Sorry to break the bubble here, but people will continue to HODL until the volatility of cyrptocurrencies is resolved, and at the moment we seem to be far from it — especially when every blockchain company with their whitepaper is choosing to ignore the “actual problem”

So far, I have only addressed the 1% of us — “The Crypto Evangelists”. But what about the rest 99% of the world i.e everyday shoppers and merchants who do not understand, or at worst distrust digital currencies? Who don’t know (or care) about the difference between “Bitcoin” and “Blockchain” ?

Coming back to the question…

I like Pundi and probably we may look to partner with them in the future. However, with TillBilly our model is different:

We do not want our shoppers or users to even think about what they are paying with and how much is it worth today.

Blockchain for us is the infrastructure, and crypto are the network packets that move through it

Our focus is simple:

Abstract the complexities of acquiring and managing digital currencies, Eliminate the fear of volatility (w.r.t fiat), Build a system that is as seamless and familiar to users as paying with a Debit Card or Apple/Google Pay™, Make it more rewarding than Card Payments, so that the Shoppers have the incentive to pay through it, and the Merchants have an incentive to install it on their checkout counters.

Simply put, I don’t think Pundi and TillBilly are even playing the same game.

Photo by Deva Darshan on Unsplash

Whilst their view on blockchain is it to be the front-end of payments, We believe that for a blockchain application to truly achieve mass adoption, it needs to be so seamless that it’s practically “invisible”

Ok, so much with the payments, still that doesn’t make you the “First”

True. We are not world’s first blockchain powered Point of Sale, but we are

The world’s first blockchain powered integrated point of sale. That’s because we are not only focused on the purchase experience, but also enabling merchants to make their shopper’s post purchase experience awesome — with “tap & go” Mobile Digital Receipts and Automatic Loyalty points.

I could go on about it, but given that this write-up has become a 6 min read as is, perhaps I will cover them into next articles. However if I have got your attention and waiting for next segment seems like Avengers Infinity War II for you, please read more out TillBilly.com