I’m sure that almost everyone has, at some point, experienced issues with fintech payment processors – frozen accounts, high hidden fees, and fraud. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 16.6 per cent of the fraud reports involved a payment app or service like Paypal in 2020.
More recently, Paypal updated its terms of service agreement that allows a US$2,500 deduction from a user’s account simply by posting anything the company deems as ‘misinformation’.
This received massive backlash on Twitter, which Paypal claimed to be an error, but only to add it back to its terms of service after the criticisms died down.
Imagine having your savings deducted for what the company deems as ‘offensive’. Or worse, to the extent of losing access to your entire savings without any reason, like the case with Monzo – where 1,392 complaints were made against Monzo for freezing accounts without warning in 2020.
These incidents remind us that fintech payment processors have the authority to deny you access to your money and may reflect a growing shift in attitudes against fintech payment processors/neobanks.
Financial censorship threatens the free and open society that we are progressing towards. We need a better alternative which can ensure that we are in control of our own money.
A new breed of fintech payment
As many businesses reconsider or even close their accounts with fintech payment processors like PayPal, many are turning instead to a new breed of payment fintech: crypto payment apps.
Crypto payments can be used to make cross-border payments without going through costly and time-consuming bank transfers. Unlike traditional payment processors like PayPal or credit card companies, cryptocurrency offers a direct P2P payment system without any intermediary to process transactions – making it cheaper and faster. This has revolutionised online payments, which makes crypto payments
attractive to businesses, especially those operating internationally.
Also Read: Crypto adoption steadies in South Asia, soars in the Southeast
On top of that, crypto payments are becoming increasingly popular with the rise of stablecoins. According to Request Finance, USD-denominated stablecoins account for 60 per cent of the crypto payments made in September 2022.
Their stable prices are ideal as opposed to volatile cryptocurrencies, especially in the current macroeconomic situation with rising interest rates and inflation. Stablecoins also open up access to DeFi platforms like AAVE, which delivers higher returns to corporate treasuries as compared
to traditional bank deposits.
More importantly, businesses have full control over their own private keys and cryptocurrencies. This alone makes crypto payment apps superior.
Making crypto safe for enterprises
Despite the advantages of crypto payments, there is a lack of consumer protection against invoice fraud or transferring money to the wrong wallet. Barclays recently reported that invoice fraud accounts for 55 per cent of money small businesses lose to scammers.
“Another savvy move may be asking for a payment request before transferring money. By confirming where to send the funds, users may avoid payments going to the wrong accounts,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer advocate in the U.S. PIRG.
Fortunately, Request Finance offers tools to fight invoice fraud in crypto. For instance, their “Invoice Me” feature allows enterprises to send their contractors a QR code or link to automatically create an invoice already pre-filled with their business information. Teammates can also be cc-ed on invoices sent to clients, allowing finance teams to check with relevant parties whether the invoice is legitimate.
As businesses embark on their journey into the new crypto payment space, applications like Request Finance help to make this journey a safe and easy one.
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