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The swift collapse of the major cryptocurrency exchange FTX hasn’t dampened processors’ interest in striking deals to enable crypto transactions for small and mid-size merchants. In the latest news, ACI Worldwide Inc. early Tuesday said it will enable payments in at least 127 digital currencies for e-commerce merchants served by Vendo Services, a Switzerland-based payment services provider with merchant clients around the world.
Miami-based ACI said it will provide the service through its connection to RocketFuel Blockchain Inc., a San Francisco-based platform that enables retail transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. ACI, which announced its link to RocketFuel in March, offers merchants the choice of receiving settlement in local fiat currencies to avoid the volatility of crypto values.
For its part, Vendo expects the new crypto integration will serve as a competitive advantage for the merchants it serves, “The interest in cryptocurrency payments among our global merchant customers is on the rise, and we expect demand to increase significantly over the coming years,” Mitch Platt, Vendo’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Vendo has been a longstanding client of ACI’s e-commerce services, which include technology supporting mobile transactions, a buy now, pay later capability, and fraud management, according to ACI.
The arrangement with Vendo to offer crypto acceptance follows a difficult period for digital currencies touched off by the sudden collapse of the 3-year-old FTX platform earlier this month. The Bahamas-based exchange, only recently valued at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy Nov. 11. The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has said it plans to hold hearings next month regarding the exchange’s demise.
The FTX news rattled crypto markets and led to sharp drops in the values of a wide range of tokens. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, was trading at $16,400 at mid-morning Tuesday, down sharply from $21,400 on Nov. 4.
