Spanish bitcoin startup Bitnovo is working on a universal POS for stores to accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment
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Cryptocurrencies have been on everyone's lips over the last few weeks due to their sharp rise in price and the popularized dogecoin, both driven to some extent by Elon Musk's tweets.
Other institutional investors and large corporations have also shown their support for these assets in recent months. Significantly, Paypal, which drove up the price of bitcoin in October and marked the start of a bull rally in which the cryptocurrency is still riding.
Encouraged by the price rise and institutional backing, many individual investors have taken the plunge into investing in cryptocurrencies. Doing so is not as easy as it seems: once purchased, they need to be stored in digital wallets: they can be both physical and virtual, and usually have 2-step verification systems and long passwords.
Spanish startup Bitnovo's solution to end the complexities of the process was to start selling redeemable coupons in physical establishments such as Fnac, Worten, Game, and Eroski, among others, for amounts starting at 25 euros.
"You don't have to get into an online platform, or give your card, or make a transfer," explains Javier Castro-Acuña, Bitnovo's director of management control, in an interview with Business Insider Spain.
Bitnovo allows users to redeem the amount they buy in 25 different cryptocurrencies, an amount higher than those usually offered by trading platforms for these assets in Spain. Castro-Acuña comments that they will be expanding the available catalog.
From the purchase of the coupon, the user has 90 days to convert it into any of the cryptocurrencies offered by Bitnovo: enter the platform through the company's website, enter the coupon code and the wallet address and Bitnovo applies the exchange rate at the time.
Castro-Acuña points out that if you do not have previous knowledge -something necessary to invest in any asset, but more so in cryptocurrencies- and you do not have a wallet, you can download the company's app, where there are digital wallets available to customers.
Currently, 80% of Bitnovo's coupon buyers' demand is redeemed in bitcoins, followed by ethereums and tethers, which would make 95% of the business. "Bitcoin is the most well-known. Little by little, knowledge of other cryptos is deepening and advancing, but bitcoin is the king," Castro-Acuña explains.
In addition to coupons, Bitnovo is working on new products with the aim of facilitating not only access to cryptocurrencies but also their use. The company is working on one hand on a universal POS that allows customers to pay in the traditional way with a card and also with cryptocurrencies. It is also responsible for making the changeover to legal tender in the event that the company. "They would always have their euros in the account, with a daily settlement, and without any volatility," details Bitnovo's director of management control.
For online merchants, the company is working on a payment gateway that makes it possible to use cryptocurrencies for online purchases.
Castro-Acuña believes that what keeps people away from cryptocurrencies the most is their financial education." Nobody explains to you well what money is. If people had that financial education, they would at least have a choice," he explains. "Bitcoin is the best money there is, the best one ever invented. It remains to know all the goodness and possibilities that the crypto world offers."
Marcos Muñoz founded the Valencia-based company in 2015, although Castro-Acuña explains that the idea came about earlier, around 2013, when, when buying a book on cryptocurrencies, they asked the founder for a payment in bitcoin.
Since its founding, more than 80,000 users have used the company's services and around 827,000 transactions have been made. According to Castro-Acuña, its biggest differentiating factor is its large distribution chain, with more than 40,000 points of sale throughout Europe. The average profile of its customers is a person between 20 and 45 years old with an interest in new technologies.
In 2020, the company transacted 30 million euros, a figure it expects to double this year, and so far, Bitnovo has not needed external financing.
COVID-19 affected them at first since coupon sales in physical stores account for 30% to 40% of their business, but 2020 has become their best year, and January 2021, their best month. "It's looking pretty good, despite the pandemic," Castro-Acuña comments. "People are aware that their traditional, fiat money is being devalued and they are looking for a haven of value where their money and savings won't lose purchasing power."
Bitnovo has 26 employees in Spain and another 12 in its recently opened office in Colombia. The company plans to continue growing in Latin America to facilitate access to cryptocurrencies in countries in the region.
Bitnovo aims to be the first regulated cryptocurrency startup
After some time in the drawer, the financial sandbox is going live this year. It is a controlled test space where technological innovation projects can be implemented in the financial system with full "accommodation in the legal and supervisory framework", as detailed by the Ministry of Economy.
The sandbox has been one of the demands of the fintech industry for several years. Castro-Acuña assures that the call is being quite successful and that Bitnovo intends to become the first Spanish company regulated in the cryptocurrency industry thanks to this program.
"We are governed by generic mercantile laws and from the European Union (...) they are trying to have specific legislation that as of today there is none. The fact that it does not exist for companies like us means many obstacles for us", he points out. "We are the first ones who want to be regulated because we want to be able to grow, interact with the rest of the players without being hindered and compete on equal terms".
In Spain, there are some 126 cryptocurrency companies registered, of which 102 are Spanish and the other 24 are of foreign origin, according to the Guide to Crypto Companies in Spain prepared by Quum and Crypto Plaza.
The rise in the price of bitcoin has benefited cryptocurrency companies.
Castro-Acuña comments during the interview that they have noticed growth thanks to the rise in the price of bitcoin in recent months. The asset has soared in recent months due to several factors, although one of the most important factors is the support of institutional investors and large corporations, such as Square or Paypal.
"To us, the price of bitcoin, in theory, does not affect us at all for the business. What does affect us is the greater awareness and the fact that the price rises due to a question of supply and demand, which makes it more widely known," defends Castro-Acuña.
Likewise, the director of management control denies that the asset is experiencing a bubble. "I don't think bubbles last 12 years," he insists.
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