PiixPay is rebranding as SWAPIN, but is retaining all its existing services under the new name! This is our very first step towards becoming an industry standard setter by upgrading our product to the highest level. We welcome you to join us on our great journey at www.swapin.com.
Don’t worry, all of our existing products like InstaPay, InstaFill, and CoinCollector have been transferred and are available on the new website.
Swapin, today, is hard at work revolutionizing the crypto-to-fiat payments segment. But the company’s roots began many years ago, and much like the rebranding from Piixpay to Swapin, there have been many significant transformations along the way of the long journey.
These transformations have occurred within the Swapin team, roadmap, and even across the crypto and finance industries themselves. In this latest blog post, we are taking a walk down memory lane to tell the story of Swapin so far. We will also reveal a taste of what to expect next from our expanding lineup of innovative B2C and B2B solutions.
Early Beginnings: Explaining Swapin’s Deep Crypto Roots
Swapin founder and CEO Evald-Hannes Kree got his start in the cryptocurrency industry in 2013. As an early pioneer in crypto, together with his partner, Kree launched a mining facility in 2014. Profits began to grow, and that’s when the first seeds for the idea that eventually became Swapin were planted.
Kree and his partner couldn’t hold only crypto profits, as there was a need to pay bills and expand operations. Business partners and vendors didn’t accept crypto at the time, so there was no other choice but to cash out crypto into euros. The duo used exchanges to convert funds, but orders filled slowly, leaving them susceptible to market volatility and exposed to potential losses.
This is how the idea for Swapin, formerly Piixpay, was born. Kree and his partner realized that there was serious demand for a simple crypto-to-fiat solution that anyone could use. The goal is to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional finance once and for all.
Overcoming Challenges in Swapin Story: How The Finance Industry Has Changed
Despite the clear need for such a solution to exist, many significant challenges were faced. For example, banks today aren’t always willing to work with crypto-based businesses, and crypto today has gone mainstream. Back when Swapin was being built, few banks even knew what crypto was, let alone were willing to give out a business loan to related businesses.
From there, undeterred, Kree led Swapin to become the first-ever startup from Estonia to attend the StartupYard Seed Accelerator program. The program provided early connections with investors to establish critical strategic relationships and invaluable learnings from industry mentors.
In the years that followed, these connections brought Swapin resounding success as part of a funding round that raised €1.68M. The funding round also attracted several well-known investors and industry figures –– such as Estonian tech visionary Taavi Kotka, former Plumbr CEO Ivo Mägi, EveryPay founder Kristjan Novitski, and Covesting founder Dmitrij Pruglo –– who have enlisted on the Swapin board.
Current Focus: Partnerships And Expansion
The news of the funding round, along with these essential connections, are already opening new doors for the renewed and refreshed Swapin brand. Swapin is proud to reveal that it has established several key partnerships with reputable brands across real estate, jewelry, luxury goods, and investments.
Partners include RE/MAX, Pax World, Aufort Gold, and E-Jewels. The list is constantly growing, and Swapin is working to bring in additional merchants and businesses who seek to reach the crypto audience using B2B solutions like SwapinCheckout and SwapinCollect. Customer behavior data shows that crypto users are more likely to spend crypto profits in these consumer categories.
SwapinCheckout and SwapinCollect allow these world-renowned businesses to invoice customers in crypto yet accept fiat –– or integrate a crypto-accepting e-commerce widget into their online storefronts. All Swapin solutions are instantaneous, send an equivalent amount of fiat to a connected bank account, and all without the risk of crypto market volatility or the headaches of crypto accounting.
What’s Next: Upcoming Swapin Roadmap Milestones
In addition to the B2B products above, Swapin also offers B2C tools like SwapinGet and SwapinPay. Each tool allows users to pay for goods and services in crypto, while the merchants themselves receive fiat.
Swapin has several new upcoming products, services, and solutions prepared as part of an ongoing company development roadmap. A recent blog post provided an in-depth look at the 2022-2023 roadmap, which includes multi-currency support for GBP (in addition to EUR), an Electronic Money Institution license, and a virtual IBAN implementation.
SwapinBuy yet another B2C tool on the way that will be released before the year is over, according to the roadmap. SwapinBuy lets users purchase any major cryptocurrencies in just a few clicks. The list of cryptocurrencies is continually growing, with expansion planned for Q3 2022.
Follow Swapin Official Channels For More Updates
Stay tuned to the Swapin blog for more details on when to expect these exciting roadmap updates to become available. You can also follow Swapin on Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, or LinkedIn.
Be sure also to try Swapin and make your first deposit today and access the future of finance. Swapin is a pioneer in crypto-to-payment solutions, catering to both B2C and B2B segments with a wide range of proprietary products and services. Click here for more information about Swapin or to join the Swapin team!
When DEFI meets FIAT
An outlook on a very potent but challenging synergy.
We are entering the time when institutions are bold enough to play with DEFI. And this is just the beginning.
So Why DEFI and FIAT, what’s the deal anyway?
Many use decentralized finance (DEFI) protocols. Their building blocks are stable coins. In essence, it’s the last bit that crypto needed – as soon as you have stable coins to be traded against volatile assets the loop closes. The best part of it – you don’t need FIAT. You are part of one whole ecosystem. And the journey continues. You enter with DAI, you get ETH, you collateralize ETH and get a loan in USDC and place it YFI finance to earn more yield.
The money legos game can go on forever.
So why do we need FIAT when you have so many Crypto Dollars anyway working frictionless with other Crypto assets?
Reason 1.
It’s not going to be like that forever.
The Crypto Dollar in essence has its own laws that work well. However, stable coins have to find a way to comply with regulations. Even the no-real-dollar-asset-backed coins like DAI cannot avoid that. Ironically, the coins which are backed by USD in bank accounts have a bigger chance to succeed. This is the fact that accountability is much easier. And in the same time if they fail to be transparent they end up in a very difficult situation with authorities i.e. Tether.
Reason 2.
FIAT is not going away (yet).
We all like the idea of an economy run on Blockchain but the reality neither Crypto is going way, nor the Dollar. As users and entrepreneurs, we have to find a common ground and unite these economies. It sounds crazy, isn’t it?
Imagine where you can use your assets in Compound as collateral for your mortgage. This concept is hard to process due to the fact of so much bureaucracy and real assets that need to “move” but it has to be a milestone that Blockchain has to solve. (btw…there something cooking in that direction).
And yes, there’s going to be Dollar printing – Biden administration is not afraid of the big inflation ahead. But still, there are many economies that still peg and trust the Dollar. That’s the reality.
This leads to the next point:
How DEFI will meet FIAT and WHY?
Factor 1.
Banks change due to user pressure (you’re thinking that’s unlikely but if customers move en masse, Banks will follow).
If 30% of customer calls in your banks is about Cryptocurrencies, then you’ll probably need a change.
But, we know – Banks don’t change – right? Thus, the truth is that they will turn into fintech companies, many will fail, others will innovate. Either way, they will be forced to work with Crypto and eventually open the gates to DEFI. This leads us to the next point.
Factor 2.
DEFI has to embrace some regulatory framework i.e. the Degen’s nightmare. We know it sounds even crazier but a little of bit rules will actually create a much healthier environment.
A bit of accountability and KYC is actually good for the industry. How many rugpools and hacks we had?
Permissionless and anonymity are good – however we are putting too much risks in the user basket creating a steep adoption curve.
Give the power to users and full responsibility? That’s good, but we as developers/entrepreneurs are obliged to create standards of safety. And this is very important for DEFI to prosper.
If those two factors are in place we can talk about a real merging between FIAT and DEFI.
Leap in the future.
No doubt, DEFI can take and disrupt the old legacy systems. Can we live without banks? Probably.
Do we need Fintech companies? Yes.
In an ideal world, the end-user is not going to feel either he/she uses decentralized or centralized solutions.
The question is – can we bring good practices in DEFI like governance, voting power and apply it to the real economy? Legislators have to understand that. Customers too. After all, open finance is what we want. To pay bills with Crypto. To load their Sushi swap via an ATM. Incredible? it’s a matter of perspective.
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Meanwhile if interested to try how to pay your bills with Crypto try Piixpay.
We made it easy.
Piixpay Team
Piixpay KYC and Risk Levels Explained
Hello everyone,
We know that making KYC and submitting all those questions and documents can be tiresome. But it is for your own safety. Moreover, we can keep Piixpay running smoothly without any problems with our banking partners.
We want to make the KYC process easier but we also need to comply with the current EU and Banking regulations.
So let us tell you a bit more about our questions, during KYC and why we need them? And what are the Risk levels, Tiers etc.
There are 3 types of Tiers.
Tier 1 – Up to 15K cumulative transaction
Tier 2 – Up to 30K cumulative transactions
Tier 3 – Up to 30K+ cumulative transaction
Tiers are assigned and checked automatically depending on your country and transaction history.
Risk Levels
Also depending on the country, you might be asked additional questions. So, here are the Risk Levels:
Risk Level 1: EEA Zone is usually Level 1. So, no additional questions. except for Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Hungary and Liechtenstein
Risk Level 2: Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Bonaire, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos [Keeling] Islands, Curacao, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kiribati, Macao, Martinique, Mayotte, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Palestine, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, San Marino, Sint Maarten, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Åland
Risk Level 3: Rest of World
So firstly, when registering your profile – some questions will appear depending on your country of residence.
Basic Profile. Note: Country of Residence
Example: If you are a resident of Germany and you will not exceed 15K worth transactions during the year – you will be not asked additional questions.
Thus, due to EU regulations, Georgian (example) residents need more documents to be submitted.
Again,
that’s because of the new AMDL5 regulations taken place in EU. We are
registered in EU and we need to somehow mitigate the privacy “Crypto-world” and
the law.
What do we ask more? (If Risk Level 3)
Purpose of transaction: you can specify here “Salary”
Employer Name (write self-employed if don’t have one)
Net Income
Source of Funds: This is a standard question. Ideally, you can upload any statement that proves your holdings – this could a bank statement or wallet address screenshot.
Personal Address (Preferably Utility Bill)
Purpose of Transaction – here’s where you upload your documentsPersonal Address – Use any utility bill that you have in hand
Also, check if you are a board member of the company. If not, just select “No”.
Company board member
Additional information
Please note to submit up-to-date documents. We will notify you if your document has expired.
PiixPay: Use Cryptocurrency To Pay Family, Bills Or Send Money?
While cryptocurrencies are being adopted for a host of novel applications across the globe, it is still rare to see business owners paying monthly salaries in the form of digital assets such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum.
With that being said, it should also be mentioned that in the past six months there have been many companies such as Bitwage, BitPay that have provided crypto holders with a new way of facilitating trade and exchange within a modern business context.
What Is PiixPay?
PiixPay is an all new “crypto-payment platform” that allows anyone to send and receive invoices in the form of digital assets across the globe. It makes use of a standardized currency rate so that customers can lock in a fixed exchange rate— thereby minimizing currency losses for all involved parties.
In term of its functionality, users need to start by entering their invoice specifics as well as their name and contact details. Once all of the paperwork is over, the payee needs to send across a fixed number of bitcoins to a specific wallet address that is provided to them.
After processing all of the data-sets, PiixPay then carries out the payment in the form of a SEPA bank transaction (using euro as its currency standard).
PiixPay Use Crypto To Pay Family, Bills Or Send Money Aspects
Economically Viable:
Owing to the various monetary regulations that exist within East Europe, SEPA transfers are usually cumbersome. However, PiixPay helps push these transactions in a way such that all invoices are cleared within a period of 1-3 working days.
Easy To Use For Merchants:
If users wish to apply for a merchant account, they can do so by sending the folks over at PiixPay an email describing the nature of their business setup, along with their contact details.
Open Source System:
The API used by PiixPay is open for everyone to utilize and modify as per their specifications and requirements.
PDF Invoicing Option:
As and when an invoice is generated, companies can directly forward these documents to the PiixPay processing module which will then scan the QR code and convert the payment amount into the correct number of Bitcoins (based on the current exchange rate).
Who Is Behind PiixPay?
PiixPay is the brainchild of Raivo Malter who is a professional IT consultant and entrepreneur. Raivo holds a degree in business administration and has been in the Bitcoin domain for over 6 years. He is also one of the founding members of the Estonian Cryptocurrency Association.
Similarly, Evald-Hannes Kree is the co-Founder of this platform. He too has been in the fintech sector for over half a decade and is currently working to acquire his Master’s degree in international business management.
How Do I Sign Up For PiixPay?
To start making transfers through PiixPay, users need to follow the instructions that are provided on the homescreen of the website.
The service is entirely free and can be made use of within a matter of minutes. Once all of the transactional details have been entered and the payment has been executed, users can then click on the “check payment” tab to keep a close watch on the status of their funds.
