New Zealand’s blockchain companies Sylo and CentraPay have announced a partnership that aims to create a sort of blockchain Uber, but which is not only related to the use of taxis but to all online bookings and payments, with the novelty of being able to interact directly with customers and merchants.

In fact, Sylo-CentraPay from 2019 will provide payments between New Zealand and Australia using Sylo’s decentralized app that will allow people to interact confidentially with other people or businesses thanks to CentraPay’s payment technology.

“What underpins our business is the belief that humans need to be able to communicate online with the same level of confidence as they can offline. Without a middleman. The compromises people were being forced to make (around their data privacy) before we started Sylo, seemed unjustifiable from our point of view,” explains Sylos co-founder Dorian Johannink.

This innovation, according to the two companies, will benefit both consumers and traders, because they can always interact with each other in a simple way, consult the list of products and make quick, easy and secure payments. At the same time, merchants will be able to accept payments and subsequently interact with customers with marketing communications and offers.

The app can be used wherever payments need to be made, from POS to vending machines, from e-commerce to parking machines.

Ben Jordan, Sylo Product Director, said: “Sylo-CentraPay has the potential to completely change consumer touch points and the entire payment process. CentraPay technology allows Sylo users to break down traditional payment barriers: you don’t need to carry a wallet or cash, you don’t need to wait in line, you don’t need to swipe or tap anything. Our business network is growing, and our partnership with CentraPay lets us streamline interactions for everyone involved“.

The system will be introduced in Australia and then extended throughout Asia and other parts of the world. CentraPay is also working to bring this digital payment experience to vending machines and other IoT devices in Japan.