Bitcoin is the king of cryptocurrencies, and thanks to its prominence, hard forks like Bitcoin Cash have experienced success in the market.
The technology has a long way to go before mainstream adoption, however, and many industry players are working on improving scaling and building simple solutions for users.
These include Centbee cofounders Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown, who aim to facilitate cryptocurrency payments and cross-border transfers.
Centbee is based in Johannesburg and has partnered with nChain, which has taken an equity stake in the business.
nChain is a global leader in blockchain development and backs products and applications that make cryptocurrency a global peer-to-peer cash solution.
MyBroadband spoke to Centbee co-CEO Angus Brown about the company’s plans for South Africa.
Set your money free
Centbee is a Bitcoin Cash payment company founded in 2016, and helps users “Set their money free”.
“We provide an intuitive Bitcoin Cash mobile wallet to send and receive Bitcoin Cash easily to friends and family, and to spend at real-world merchants,” said Brown.
“Currently, few merchants accept Bitcoin, and we believe that we can provide simple and reliable interfaces to allow any merchant to receive payment – settled daily into their bank account in fiat currency.”
Centbee’s remittance model uses Bitcoin Cash as infrastructure, which enables users to make cross-border payments safely and cheaply.
The company is also in discussions with retail partners to enable cash deposits.
“The social importance of this service cannot be overemphasised, and we believe that through providing a commercial service, we are helping people to provide for their loved ones,” said Brown.
“We are excited by the Bitcoin Cash blockchain and support this exclusively due to its technical advantages and low cost.”
The company said its decision to exclusively use Bitcoin Cash was due to Bitcoin’s failure to function as a real form of digital cash.
Mobile wallet
Centbee is currently developing a mobile Bitcoin Cash wallet, which it said will be secure and easy-to-use.
The payment ecosystem for the Centbee wallet will allow users to easily access cryptocurrency and transfer it between one another, he said.
The company also plans to let users purchase Bitcoin Cash over-the-counter at popular retailers in South Africa.
Centbee is currently available in a private alpha phase on the Google Play store and will move into open beta in April.
The application will be deployed to iOS shortly after the Android open beta.