Source: Aliant
Aliant Payment Systems, a U.S. based provider of merchant services and credit card processing, announced today that it is now offering its merchants the ability to accept Litecoin payments.
Aliant became one of the first payment processors to offer a Bitcoin solution to merchants in Q3 2017, with an Ethereum solution following in Q4 2017.
“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,” said Aliant CEO Eric Brown. “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 partnered with Vancouver-based NetCents Technology Inc. to build out the processing platform and offer their crypto portfolio to Aliant’s existing merchant base, as well as new clients. Despite feedback regarding a variety of coins, Aliant chose to add Ethereum and Litecoin because they are established, well-known, and stable.
While Bitcoin payments are more commonly seen on bigger ticket items, Aliant expects Litecoin to emerge as the more attractive payment solution to buy small-ticket items. Another attractive Litecoin feature is its SegWit upgrade, which helps to boost the capacity of its blockchain, while speeding up settlement times and lowering transaction costs.
“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, said Brown. “His team customized 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.”
“NetCents views the agreement with Aliant as more of a partnership rather than a supplier for services agreement,” said NetCents CEO Clayton Moore. “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.”
In addition to bringing a cryptocurrency solution to e-commerce merchants, Aliant offers a retail solution via the Poynt terminal. Chosen for its developer-friendly technology, Aliant added its cryptocurrency widget directly to the Poynt terminal, allowing its merchants and customers the ability to conduct cryptocurrency transactions at the point of sale.