Alongside the launch, Bud and Blockchain.com have announced a pan European trial to make the new payment channel available for Blockchain’s customers using cryptocurrency.
Image source: Bud
Bud has launched an Open Banking and PSD2 payment API designed to provide an alternative to card payments and bank transfers.
Open Banking payments use banks’ APIs to initiate a transfer from one account to another. Merchants provide the payment data, the customer initiates the payment and authorises it via their banking app or website. Banks handle the transfer through the most appropriate payment method. The vast majority of these in the UK use the faster payments network and therefore clear in a number of minutes.
By cutting out conventional payments infrastructure, Bud says, the process will provide a faster and cheaper alternative to existing payment channels without the necessity to share card details with third parties.
The open banking-focused fintech will use APIs to allow users to initiate payments directly from a bank account to a recipient.
Ed Maslaveckas, Bud’s CEO says payments will be “an important part of the puzzle” to realise the value that open banking can bring to consumers.
“People look at Open Banking and think about aggregation, but in many ways, that’s the least disruptive part of it,” he said.
“The value comes when you can understand someone’s financial data and help them to act on the insight. Most of the time that action will result in a payment being made,” he added.
Open banking payments, he says, are faster, with most UK transactions clearing within minutes, as well as cheaper for clients.
“Removing the need to enter card details means that you don’t have to decide between convenience and security because you never have to enter your card details, the banks handle all the security.”
Alongside the launch, Bud and Blockchain.com have announced a pan European trial to make the new payment channel available for Blockchain’s customers.
The product will allow Blockchain.com’s customers to fund crypto wallets directly from their bank accounts without sharing card details. As the partnership progresses, plans include expansion both in terms of its use within the Blockchain app and its roll out to European customers.