GoCoin, Ziftr announce merger agreement

Blockchain payment processor GoCoin and e-commerce firm Ziftr announced Wednesday they have reached an agreement to proceed with strategic merger discussions.

The companies said in a press release that they are “equipped to swiftly surpass Coinbase and BitPay in the digital currency space and aggressively take on Stripe as a hybrid traditional and digital currency payments powerhouse with a built-in customer loyalty program.”

GoCoin is the third leading blockchain payment processor in the world and the only major platform processing Dogecoin, Litecoin, Tether, and new experimental coins in addition to Bitcoin. The company has more than 7,500 merchants, with more than 500 new registrations per month. GoCoin has attracted top brands such as PayPal, Shopify, and CheapAir. The Los Angeles-based company has gained recent traction with entertainment companies such as Lionsgate Films, and additional entertainment and ticketing industry companies live in test markets before announcing a broader offering.

New Hampshire-based Ziftr recently launched ziftrPay, a digital currency and credit card payment platform and customer loyalty program that tokenized credit card data to allow for highly secure transactions. Late last year, the company held a pre-sale for its own cryptocurrency, ziftrCOIN, designed for use as part of customer loyalty program. Ziftr also created mobile multi-cryptocurrency wallet called ziftrWALLET.

“When consumers ask ‘what’s in it for me?’, Bitcoin has a serious adoption problem,” said Steve Beauregard, founder and CEO of GoCoin, in the press release. “Loyalty points play a key role in a consumer’s choice of payment method, and with the ziftrCOIN loyalty platform integrated into the ziftrWALLET, I believe we can finally give consumers the right experience to choose digital currencies over cards at checkout.”

“Ziftr has many of the necessary assets to accelerate mainstream adoption of digital currency, so merging with GoCoin and gaining access to its rapidly growing network of merchants gives our combined altcoin-friendly company the power to truly disrupt the $20 trillion global payments market,” said Ziftr CEO Bob Wilkins. “Our platform will allow merchants of all sizes to benefit from the transparency and efficiency of blockchain payments by giving them a better solution than what’s currently available.”

Image courtesy of Ziftr