Australian ‘Cointree’ exchange has paired up with billing platform Gobbill to allow its users to pay their bills directly from their exchange account. This will allow crypto enthusiasts to keep more of their assets in crypto while still being able to meet their financial obligations without the need to manually convert and withdraw fiat. Instead Cointree and Gobbill will cover your bills from their fiat reserves, and then convert the coins you sold into fiat at their leisure.
Stepping Stones for Crypto Down Under
Two Australian players have teamed up to remove some of the hassle for crypto enthusiasts down under. Cointree, a fairly small exchange originally launched in 2013, underwent a rebranding over the summer, and have just announced their partnership with the financial service provider Gobbill, which specializes in, among other things, automatic payment of bills and invoices. The plan is to allow users to link their exchange wallet to a Gobbill account and sell their crypto holdings via market order to cover payment of everyday bills.
Although the service they will provide is not technologically groundbreaking, it will however greatly increase convenience for Australian crypto holders, and give them more control over their money. The bills are still paid in fiat, so this will not lead directly to more businesses accepting crypto, but as a payment gateway that allows for quick crypto to fiat transactions, it’s a nice step on the way to adoption for our Australian mates.
Hurdles in Crypto Adoption en Masse
Perhaps the biggest hurdle in crypto is adoption. There are many projects whose products are comparable to centralized alternatives, and many would be global currencies that transact more cheaply and quickly than any bank’s services.
But all of that won’t matter unless the mass finds crypto useful and easy to use. At this point we are still a space filled with mostly tech geeks, traders and investors, people who are prepared to invest the time it takes to learn to use wallets and exchanges. But for the average consumer, centralized services already provide them with everything they need, and while Blockchain sounds exciting it’s not worth the time and frustration often involved in getting started.
As for pure currency coins, it can be difficult to find businesses that accept them, and often impossible at a local level. For all the pictures of street musicians accepting Litecoin donations in London and New York cropping up, the truth is most companies, small time vendors and mega corporations alike, are hesitant to accept payment in something so volatile and (for most currencies) slow to transact. Fast enough for shopping is a very different game than fast for cross border transfers.
