Bchpls.io Enables Free Bitcoin Cash Point-of-Sale Platform

There’s a new Point-of-Sale (PoS) service the Bitcoin Cash community has been talking about called, Bchpls.io, an app that enables any brick n’ mortar merchant to accept BCH with just two devices by providing a customer screen, and a cashier view. Bchpls is currently in open beta which means the public can test the software at their own discretion, so news.Bitcoin.com decided to test the program’s feature services.

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Giving the New PoS System Bchpls.io a Test Run

This week we decided to test out a new PoS system specifically designed for merchants who want to accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH) at any physical location. The application called Bchpls.io is free, and there are no servers needed as all it takes is an internet connection and two devices (cashier & customer). Merchants can accept the funds into any wallet of their choice and set up the name of their business on the invoice. Funds are sent to a one-time-only address as a new address is used for each sale so incoming revenue is kept private.

Setting Up a Store Name and Fiat Currency Pair for Pricing

When entering the website users are greeted with a purple-orange themed page that asks the user to sign up. After hitting the register tab the merchant enters a valid email address and sets a strong password to set up their account. The next screen asks the merchant to add the store name and the fiat currency they wish to use to calculate BCH invoices. Following this step the user has to tether a Bitcoin Cash wallet to the store account and Bchpls uses the Xpub (extended public keys) to generate a receiving address on the cashier side.

Tethering a Wallet to Bchpls.io With Extended Public Keys

Using the Bitcoin.com Wallet simply create a new wallet with the store’s name and go to the section called “wallet information.” The next screen will reveal the BCH wallet’s Xpub keys, after scrolling down to the bottom. Tap the Xpub section and the Bitcoin.com Wallet will automatically copy and paste the extended public keys. Paste this text into the Bchpls page where it says ‘derivation path,” and hit next.

After that, the merchant is all set, and a page is created which shows information for an access key, cashier screen, and the customer screen. Both screens provide a URL with a QR code created on the invoice page. Unfortunately, there is no address section yet available to copy and paste, as the invoice only supplies a QR code that needs to be scanned.

After the merchant set-up is complete the account holder simply registers a sale on the platform which calculates a new invoice every time. Merchants can also cancel the invoice as well before it is paid just in case there happened to be an error during the process.

The Softwares’ Roadmap and Monetization Plans

The Bchpls developer explains in the future they plan to monetize by adding custom features or the “ability to operate more than one PoS session at the same time.” Down the line, Bchpls plans to add products management, custom designs, receipts, multiple PoS, and a merchant directory.

Currently, the beta program is not open source nor does it offer a client-side (trustless) option but the developer says he will provide these things soon.

“This is not available on Github at the moment — It is currently a hosted service — The site does not store any private keys or BCH on your behalf,” explains the Bchpls developer. “You provide your Xpub (public key), then any orders made will be made directly to addresses generated from your Xpub.”

Note that this is not an e-commerce payment gateway solution, it is a POS system for a brick-and-mortar setup. It is also not a solution for people who want automatic settlement into Fiat. It only settles in BCH directly into your wallet — The client-side-only implementation will be open sourced once it is ready.

Bchpls is yet another application that helps promote Bitcoin Cash infrastructure and adoption and most BCH proponents seem to like the platform. Some individuals will likely wait for a more reliable release and others will also wait for a client-side open source version. All in all, Bchpls was extremely easy to set up and any brick-and-mortar business could start using it at their shop.

What do you think about Bchpls.io? Let us know your thoughts about this PoS system in the comment section below.

Images via Shutterstock, BCHPLS.io, and Jamie Redman.

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