Aliant Payment Systems announced today that they will add Litecoin functionality to their existing range of products. The US-based provider of merchant payment services were amongst the first companies of their kind to include a Bitcoin payment solution for their merchants in 2017, before adding Ethereum too late last year. Their CEO, Eric Brown, said of the decision to include Litecoin for their clients:

“Our merchants look to us for innovative ways to transfer money safely, securely, and cost-effectively. Cryptocurrency allows us to move money in all of these ways, while also offering consumers more payment options… We expect Litecoin to emerge as a prominent everyday payment option. Pay with Litecoin at restaurants, bars, gas stations, coffee shops, and other places that you go regularly.”

Aliant are currently in partnership with the Vancouver-based NetCents Technology Inc. It’s them who’re helping with the integration of cryptocurrencies into Aliant’s existing services. The pair received feedback regarding a plethora of different digital currencies but Ethereum and Litecoin were chosen to join Bitcoin based on their popularity and the public’s relative familiarity with them, as well as their stability.

Aliant are expecting Litecoin to emerge as a suitable payment option for smaller priced items. Currently, only expensive goods are purchased using its big brother, Bitcoin. This is due to the fees associated with using Bitcoin for payments. Litecoin, meanwhile, enjoys much lower fees and transaction times.

Brown continued, touching upon his company’s collaboration with NetCents:

“We explained to the NetCents team what we felt a merchant needed to see on the platform, and their CTO, Medhi Mehrtash, was the engineer who made it happen… His team customised the platform based on the specs we provided, and now we look forward to showing our merchants what digital currency can do for online payments.”

The NetCents CEO, Clayton Moore added:

“NetCents views the agreement with Aliant as more of a partnership rather than a supplier for services agreement… We believe that Aliant shares our vision of the evolving digital payment space and their strategy for introducing digital payments is in line with ours.”

As well as their e-commerce merchant facing solutions, Aliant offer a retail option. This is known as the Poynt terminal. It features a highly developer-friendly design and technology, as well as having the cryptocurrency widget as standard. This allows Aliant’s merchants and customers to use digital currency at the point of sale, further increasing the overall public exposure to the innovative payment systems.