Checkout.Com Starts Accepting Stablecoins Payment, Providing 24/7 Settlement

blockchain.news:

UK-based payments solution provider Checkout.com announced on Tuesday the launch of its stablecoin settlement solution by using Fireblocks’ new crypto payment technology.

With this access, Checkout.com is set to provide its merchants with flexible instant fiat-to-stablecoin conversion for customer payments.

Checkout.com, which competes with Fintech firms like PayPal and Stripe, mentioned that it launched the service to enable merchants (businesses) to accept and make payments in USD Coin, a popular stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Issued by Circle Inc., USD Coin (USDC) is the second stablecoin by market. Currently, there is about $53 billion worth of USD Coin (USDC) in circulation. Tether remains the biggest stablecoin issuer with $78.6 billion in total supply.

Stablecoins have become a popular way of settlement, helping investors trade digital currencies rapidly without needing to go through banks.

Jess Houlgrave, Checkout.com’s head of crypto strategy, said that the new feature would provide merchants with 24/7 settlements, including weekends and public holidays, which is not currently possible with fiat currencies. Crypto users can get their payments straight away. Still, banks and card schemes like Visa and Mastercard operate in a way that merchant payouts are limited to 9-5 on weekdays through batch processing over several business days.

Checkout.com disclosed that it has tested the feature privately with a select number of clients, facilitating $300 million in transaction volumes in the past few months.

At the start, Checkout.com said that its stablecoin settlement supports USDC, but it plans to expand the service to a broader range of assets. The startup plans to roll out the service worldwide, with FTX,