KITCHENER — About four years ago, two friends became enthralled with Bitcoin and started writing applications for processing payments made with the digital currency.

Along the way Kirk Steele and Ryan Connors developed a deep understanding of open-source software and blockchain — the technology behind Bitcoin. They developed software to process Bitcoin transactions in real time. They have sold the software to large gaming companies and small startups.

By March 2014, they both resigned their full-time jobs integrating computer systems for Kitchener-based Brock Solutions and founded Green Brick Labs. Steele is the chief executive officer; Connors is the chief technology officer.

Less than two years later, the startup employs more than 30 people in an office in downtown Kitchener. It is using the expertise it developed in cryptocurrency to diversify its products and services.

"We came up with a really, really neat Bitcoin transaction system for businesses," Connors said. "Essentially it is a real-time Bitcoin processing platform."

Unlike other payment and processing software in that space, Green Brick Labs does not take a percentage of each transaction. It sells the software platform to a customer and then provides updates and services. And there is a lot of followup work.

"Bitcoin is an open-source platform that is changing all the time," Connors said. "There are all kinds of challenges and all kinds of things that arise."

Connors and Steele love the technology so much a lot of their business is in Bitcoin. They buy computer equipment using the digital currency and some employees are paid, in part, with Bitcoin. They insist that some service providers invoice Green Brick Labs in Bitcoin.

While building their Bitcoin payment platform, the startup had to focus a lot on security. Bitcoin exchanges, the digital processing centres for transactions and deposits, have been hacked and millions of dollars have been stolen.

"Through our research, there has been no Bitcoin exchange that's had a clean record. I think every single one has had money stolen from them," Connors said.

"Definitely our top value proposition is security," Steele said.

Connors believes there won't be widespread acceptance and use of Bitcoin among consumers until the technology evolves to the point where a smartphone can be tapped on a payment terminal that processes the digital currency.

Meanwhile, Green Brick wants to use blockchain, the technology underlying Bitcoin, to make it much easier and faster to wire money from one country to another. Connors and Steele had to use a lot of wire transfers in the early days of their startup. They found the process archaic, cumbersome and time consuming.

They also believe blockchain could be used for sharing and vetting legal contracts and financial documents. The technology is designed so that those documents cannot be changed or altered.

"Blockchain is what everybody is getting excited about, including the banks," Connors said.

As well, Connors and Steele see applications for worldwide crowdfunding campaigns that ask people to donate a penny or two. Current payment apps make that impossible; the processing fees are far higher than a one-penny contribution. Blockchain technology and Bitcoin could be game changers for crowdfunding and microloans, they say.

"It is very, very disruptive. I don't think people understand how disruptive it is," Connors said. "What the Internet did for information sharing, cryptocurrency is going to do to currency."

The startup wants to broaden its work into web applications that have a real-time component. An example is an application that integrates with the stock market.

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"We have been forced into that with Bitcoin," Connors said.

Steele and Connors both studied systems design engineering. Steele went to the University of Waterloo, and Connors to the University of Guelph. They say theirs is a seldom used approach among startups — they fell in love with the technology and started writing code.

"Usually you have to find a problem and solve it," Connors aid. "A lot of people have done what we did and were not successful."