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Online payments processor Novatti Group (ASX: NOV) has made a commercially-astute move into blockchain payments by integrating its proprietary payments platform with The Stellar Network, an open-source protocol for exchanging money used via shared servers and “forming a global value exchange network”.

In essence, Stellar is a blockchain-payment and asset transfer platform connecting banks, payment systems and customers with a network of low-cost financial services providers, including financial institutions, payment aggregators and technical specialists.

The prime feature which attracts users is the commonly-shared commitment to support a new and inclusive global infrastructure for payments. Stellar is growing rapidly and sports a proprietary “native asset” digital currency called the Lumen.

Its stated core mission is to “move money across borders quickly, reliably and for fractions of a penny.”

Meanwhile, Novatti is an emerging payment services provider, with current service features including consumer digital wallets, branchless banking, mobile money, bill payments and remittance services, done through several core products such as Flexepin, Flexewallet and recently launched Chinapayments.com.

Collaborating with Stellar is expected to widen Novatti’s addressable audience and serve as a springboard for the company to service the growing number of cryptocurrency transactions taking place globally, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Today’s news builds on Novatti’s multiple avenues of expansion and builds upon its development having announced a deal to further its commercial interests in China earlier this month.

“Completing the integration of Novatti’s Payments Platform into Stellar’s network lays the foundations to build future high-growth revenue streams driven by transactions across the blockchain network,” said Peter Cook, chief executive officer of Novatti Group.

“We are focused on leveraging our strong relationship with Stellar to securing additional agreements with its partner network to drive high growth revenue streams in the payments and billing space, driven by growing transactions processing,” said Mr Cook.

Looking ahead to blockchain payments

Novatti’s first blockchain transaction is expected to take place in May 2018, “once bespoke development activity, currently in the final stages, is complete”.

Once launched, Novatti will earn revenue on a per-transaction basis for managing the “pay-out” of settlements for remittance transactions sent to Australia and for originating transactions in Australia that are remitted to other countries.

The deal with Stellar could be a significant moment for the company given the strong potential of blockchain-related commerce that’s currently thriving across the globe.

Novatti says that the deal also facilitates Stellar’s customers and partners to access its platform, therefore underlining the mutually beneficial nature of the deal and the synergetic commercial relationship agreed by the two companies.

Today’s news of Novatti and Stellar nearing the completion of integrating their respective technologies helped Novatti shares gain 17% to reach $0.34 per share in early morning trade.

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