SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Align Commerce, a next-generation global payments provider, announced today a public beta of its innovative payments platform, the first in the industry to use the blockchain to enable faster, less expensive global transactions.

“The $24 trillion cross-border payments market is growing at a breakneck pace, expected to eclipse $54 trillion by 2022, despite a highly inefficient and expensive system in which businesses spend over $50 billion on wire and foreign exchange fees, wait up to seven days for transactions to complete, and have no visibility into the process,” said Marwan Forzley, CEO and Founder of Align Commerce. “The blockchain offers a ready alternative. The Align Commerce Payments Platform is the first in the industry to use this global rail to help small and medium-sized businesses quickly collect and receive payments in their local currency while avoiding high wire fees and various hidden fees.”

"We have been using Align Commerce to process cross-border payments between certain international divisions of the University of Nicosia,” said Antonis Polemitis, a Board Member at the university. “The process has been faster and less expensive on a total cost basis (fees and currency spread) than wire transfers. The platform has also been very simple to use."

In both business-to-business and consumer-to-business commerce, money slows to a crawl when it crosses a border. The blockchain can act as a fast rail to move money from point A to point B. Align Commerce leverages this new rail to simplify and accelerate global payments while greatly reducing their cost. Using blockchain technology, Align can cut payment processing times to as little as one to three business days, down from as many as seven.

"Align Commerce is the first company to successfully tackle international payments between businesses using the blockchain, allowing companies an easier, faster, and less expensive option for cross-border transactions,” said Dan Morehead, CEO at Pantera Capital. “Marwan and his team are an important addition to our portfolio, as they continue to strengthen and grow the ecosystem by creating a better solution for a real business challenge."

Align Commerce also brings transparency to an opaque transaction ecosystem. Wires typically travel through a closed system of multiple banks, leaving both buyers and suppliers unsure of where their money is and when it will arrive. Using the Align Commerce Payments Platform, businesses can track the status of each transaction from beginning to end, a new feature previously unavailable to clients.

“Unless you are a really big company, making cross-border B2B payments is a shockingly bad experience,” said Hans Morris, Managing Partner at NYCA Partners. “Businesses pay opaque fees, and neither the recipient nor the payer has any idea when the payment will be credited. Align Commerce has low fees, real-time tracking, and complete transparency on foreign exchange costs. We invest in companies with innovative solutions to big problems in financial services. This is central to our business model, and Align accomplishes just that.”

For more on the Align Commerce Payments Platform and how the blockchain is enabling faster, simpler, and less expensive overseas payments, visit AlignCommerce.com. To sign up for the public beta, visit https://www.aligncommerce.com/dashboard/register.

About Align Commerce

Align Commerce is a next-generation global payment provider that enables businesses to quickly and securely pay and get paid in their local currency. We enable businesses and payment platforms to process payments in local currency via a simple, frictionless, and inexpensive manner by using the blockchain as a new payment rail.