AML-Compliant Bitcoin Payments Coming to 56,000+ Merchants Globally

Payment21 and ACI Worldwide announced on Wednesday a strategic collaboration to enable payment service providers (PSPs) to offer merchants anti-money laundering (AML)-compliant bitcoin acceptance.

Also read: 3 Free Bitcoin Direct Payment Processors for Webmasters

56,000+ Merchants Can Now Accept Bitcoin

Headquartered in Florida, ACI Worldwide is a payment systems company which processes electronic payments for more than 5,100 organizations globally, including over 1,000 of the largest financial institutions and intermediaries, the company claims.

Thousands of global merchants rely on ACI to execute $14 trillion each day in payments and securities. With a market capitalization of over $2.5 billion, Forbes ranks ACI #45 on its list of America’s Best Small Companies.

The company announced on Wednesday that:

ACI’s network of more than 130 PSPs, serving more than 56,000 merchants, can now accept bitcoin payments.

These PSPs already offer credit and debit card checkout functionality to merchants around the world. This collaboration between ACI and Payment21 “allows PSPs and merchants to quickly and easily add bitcoin payments to their checkout pages, without additional integrations”, the announcement reads. “The solution includes inbound payments and payouts in bitcoin offering real-time settlement capabilities on a global scale, which accelerates merchant cash flow”.

ACI’s vice president, Andy McDonald, explained that this solution will enable their PSP clients to “offer AML-compliant bitcoin payments all without exposing their merchants to price volatility.”

AML-Compliant Bitcoin Transactions

Payment21 focuses on “the compliance needs of enterprise-level businesses and the legal prerequisites of their banking partners”, the company describes. Its target clientele are publicly-listed companies, licensed gaming operators, concessionary wireless network providers, authorized investment funds and their banking partners.

Moving Media Gmbh, which owns the Payment21 brand, is a registered financial intermediary with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The company is based in Switzerland with an International Sales Organization (ISO) in the US.

The company’s system caters to global Know-Your-Customer (KYC) regulations in European and international jurisdictions. “This, together with no chargeback risk, makes enabling bitcoin payments an effective solution for merchants that are seeking to address traditional points of friction—including delays and costs associated with cross-border payments”, said Bernhard Kaufmann, general manager of Payment21. The company noted that:

This approach [AML-compliant] makes Bitcoin a viable solution for publicly-traded companies, licensed gaming enterprises, concessionary wireless network providers and authorized investment funds.

Do you think this AML-compliant bitcoin payments solution will increase institutional merchant adoption? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Payment21, Constantinus Award, and ACI Worldwide

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