Many payment service providers and merchants are desirous of entering the crypto space. This would enable them to accept payments via digital assets.
Fireblocks has made the first move to make this possible. Although it is essentially a company dealing in blockchain infrastructure, it is moving to acquire First Digital. First Digital is a payment platform dealing in digital currencies. This acquisition will enable Fireblocks to make a foray into the crypto sector. Fireblocks refused to divulge the details of the deal. However, people in the know estimate that the deal is worth at least $100 million.
Acquisition Details
Fireblocks is a relatively new firm having been found only in 2017. However, after its latest fund raise it is sitting on a pile of cash. The latest series E fund raise pushed its valuation to over $8 billion. First Digital was also set up in the same year as Fireblocks. The firm deals in building infra for stablecoins payment. Fireblocks and First Digital see value and synergies in working together.
Other than the payment service providers, merchants across the board are keen to allow payments via crypto. The factors slowing down adoption include – the stringent KYC/AML requirements and high costs associated with wallet integration. Once these roadblocks are eased more use cases will emerge.
Once Fireblocks completes the acquisition, it has got ambitious plans to roll out services. It plans to enable B2B, B2C and international payments. To get this moving it plans to launch the USDC Celo. In addition, it will also launch other stablecoins. For this purpose Fireblocks plans to build a platform that will provide easy integration to permit transactions and compliance.
With all the interest in the crypto payments space, there is feverish activity to put in the regulatory framework for crypto payments.
