What is Alchemy Pay? Innovative Hybrid Payment System

The world of cryptocurrency has experienced a massive rise in adoption and usage. However, several businesses are still reluctant to accept cryptocurrencies as a viable payment method. Alchemy Pay is set to revolutionize how we make payments and seamlessly bridge the gap between traditional digital and cryptocurrency.

What is Alchemy Pay?

Source: https://alchemypay.org/

Alchemy Pay is a hybrid payment system that allows users to complete transactions and purchases with crypto and fiat currencies, like the USD and GBP. This flexibility of payments aims to provide the best of both worlds to payment ecosystems.

Alchemy Pay provides its own Point of Service Terminal and Payment Infrastructure for its payment networks and vendors, enabling them to structure their entire payment systems around Alchemy Pay. Once these structures are set up, merchants can accept crypto and fiat currencies for whatever product or service they sell, from e-commerce to grocery stores.

Alchemy Pay is an all-in-one payment system whose structure is set up to support many business structures such as Customer to Business (c2b), Business to Business (b2b), Customer to Customer (c2c), and Enterprise Level transactions. Aside from business types, Alchemy Pay grants businesses the freedom to operate globally, as Alchemy Pay has a worldwide reach spanning 170 countries and supports over 300 fiat channels.

History of Alchemy Pay

Alchemy Pay was founded in 2018 by Shawn Shi, an entrepreneur who previously worked as the vice president of technology with Chinese insurance company ZhongAn. The current CEO is John Tan, a growth guru with over eight years of experience in business development and has worked with several payment service providers and PR agencies. The last Alchemy Pay leadership team member is Molly Zhang, the Senior Advisor with over 20 years of experience in the payment industry. She has worked with companies like Paypal China, HSBC China, and Mastercard China. Other members of the Alchemy Pay team include Chief Technical Officer Liang Chuan, Head of Payments Lv Bo, and Train Luo, who is responsible for strategy and talent.

Alchemy Pay has also strategically partnered with several industry leaders and payment services. The project has a burgeoning merchant network list, including industry giants like Shopify. They also partnered with payment channels like Mastercard and Visa. The company has also partnered with blockchain leaders, including Polygon and Chainlink.

How Does Alchemy Pay Work?

Alchemy Pay is hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, ensuring top-notch project security. It combines decentralized applications, hardware, and a large community of supporters and merchants to ensure the project’s smooth operation.

Alchemy Pay’s network relies on some partners to manage the user’s end, merchant, and transaction service. Alchemy Pay’s transaction processing system starts with generating the payment transaction order. A QR code will then be created, which the user scans to pay with the Alchemy wallet app available on the Google and Apple Play Store. The transaction order is then written into a blockchain payment network.

Alchemy Pay supports over 50 fiat currencies, including the Dollar (USD), Pound (GBP), and Euro (EUR). It also supports most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and compatible tokens.

According to the whitepaper, users can also pay for virtual products like NFTs through the Lightning Network (a layer 2 blockchain-based payment system) with a similar process to meet the demand of real-time transactions and avoid the risk caused by price fluctuations. Lightning Network is a web3 dApp that uses smart contracts to create a secure network of participants that can transact at high speeds, enabling instant payments.

Like traditional payment systems where people pay using a credit card, cash, or a mobile wallet, Alchemy Pay allows users to choose whether to pay in crypto or fiat. The platform features a fiat payment processor that enables merchants to convert crypto and fiat currencies instantaneously. Merchants can also accept crypto payments with instant conversion to traditional currency.

Main Features of Alchemy Pay: POS Terminals, Fiat Payment, Escrow Payments and Remittance

Alchemy Pay offers various innovative features that provide unparalleled convenience, security, and accessibility. Here are some features that set Alchemy Pay apart:

Terminals

Alchemy Pay features several point-of-sale (POS) terminals that require little to no infrastructure to set up. With this structure in place, new merchants signing up for Alchemy Pay can save on set-up costs and easily access the network through smart devices. This is ensured by incorporating dApps in

Alchemy Pay’s system architecture. With decentralized payments, merchants and consumers can use an intuitive interface to make their payments. These terminals also offer offline capabilities, allowing businesses to operate smoothly without experiencing internet issues.

Fiat Payment Processor

Alchemy Pay is the first project to provide transactions between crypto and fiat currencies. The platform features a fiat payment processor that allows merchants to convert crypto and fiat currencies instantaneously. This is backed by Ethereum’s smart contracts, making it a convenient payment solution for worldwide businesses. Alchemy Pay has also integrated multiple payment channels like e-wallets and credit cards. Alchemy Pay is also working on supporting NFC technology in the future alongside other payment options.

Escrow Payment

Alchemy Pay’s infrastructure enables two parties in a potential transaction to automate escrow terms when a possible transaction can be verified via smart contracts. Alchemy Pay also provides secure arbitration tools for off-chain assets on behalf of trusted third parties on the transaction. If the transaction fails, the escrow funder will automatically receive all of their escrowed funds.

Remittance

Alchemy Pay users can send money overseas cheaply, thanks to frictionless, peer-to-peer transactions. Using Alchemy Pay is more cost-efficient than sending fiat currencies which may cost the sender up to 7% in transaction costs.

Alchemy Pay’s Main Products

Alchemy Pay provides four main products in its ecosystem. These are:

On and Off-Ramps

Alchemy Pay’s Crypto On Ramp is a secure gateway that offers direct fiat to crypto purchases. These ramps allow users to sell crypto and remit the funds to bank accounts in over 50 fiat currencies. It supports mainstream fiat payments like Visa, Mastercard, mobile wallets, and bank transfers.

On the other hand, Alchemy Pay’s Off Ramps enable users to sell their crypto into fiat and then have those funds sent to various bank accounts worldwide. Users can now bypass complex processes and enjoy simple and quick fiat payments. The Off Ramp functions with NFT marketplaces, DeFi protocols, play-to-earn games, and crypto wallets.

NFT Checkout

With the NFT checkout, Alchemy Pay offers direct NFT purchases with fiat payments. It is designed for brands and marketplaces that wish to give their brands and users easy access to NFTs. Users can buy NFTs with credit or debit cards, similar to any other e-commerce transaction.

Usually, buyers need to own the right token to make an NFT purchase. This would require the user to move crypto funds over different Blockchains which is significantly time-consuming. Alchemy Pay helps bypass multiple steps and buy the NFT directly with their local fiat funds.

Crypto Card

Source: https://alchemypay.org/

This product targets businesses, allowing them to issue branded crypto cards to their users. These cards can be physical or virtual and can be used like any other card if it is topped up with cryptocurrency and connected to services like Apple Pay and PayPal.

As part of Alchemy Pay’s ecosystem, these cards support fiat payments in over 300 countries, and the user can convert crypto and fiat as they desire. Alchemy Pay also provides specific card types according to different regions.

Crypto Payment

Alchemy Pay works with businesses to enable them to accept crypto payments and increase their revenue. It works by selecting Alchemy Pay on the merchant page during payment, and then having the customer pay the Alchemy Pay invoice at a locked-in exchange rate. Alchemy Pay will convert the customer’s payment into your local currency or preferred cryptocurrency. By the next business day, Alchemy Pay will initiate a bank settlement to the business.

How to Use Alchemy Pay (User & Vendor)

This is how to use Alchemy Pay:

• The user at an offline merchant chooses to pay with cryptocurrency.
• The merchant creates a sale/transaction order with their cash register app/POS. The app calls the Alchemy Pay SDK to get the collection address of the transaction.
• Alchemy Pay’s system generates the payment transaction order.
• Payment gateway returns the collection address and transaction order to Alchemy Pay SDK.
• Alchemy Pay then creates a QR code for the user to scan and pay.
• The user scans with the wallet app to authorize the payment.
• Alchemy Pay gateway checks the transaction status of the blockchain order.
• Alchemy Pay processor writes a transaction order into the blockchain network.
• Alchemy Pay gateway then sends real-time payment status back to the POS, notifying the merchant of a successful payment.

For virtual payments, users can pay through the Lightning Network with a similar process.

What is ACH?

ACH is an ERC-20 token native to Alchemy Pay and based on the Ethereum network. It also exists as a BEP-20 token on the Binance Smart Chain. The token is also used to pay transactional network fees. ACH holders can also earn rewards on the Alchemy Pay ecosystem, paid in ACH tokens. Holders with a certain amount of tokens can also vote on governance proposals and gain access to fee discounts.

The most essential function that ACH serves is pledging. Any Alchemy Pay partner (including crypto exchanges, e-commerce platforms, and payment companies) who wants to access Alchemy Pay’s services must buy and pledge ACH tokens proportional to their network size and projected transaction volume. These partners can return the ACH tokens pledged in the event of cancellation of the partner’s usage of Alchemy Pay or in case of unfair fraudulent behavior. This system ensures that the ACH token provides tangible value while serving as an incentive for good behavior.

The ACH token also serves as the governance token for the project. Each token grants the owner the right to vote on critical business decisions or protocol changes. Thus, users who use Alchemy Pay a lot would be incentivized to buy and hold more ACH tokens.

Half the transaction fees are used for business development, marketing, and promotion. Alchemy Pay provides a sustainable budget to attract new businesses to ensure continuous growth and expansion.

ACH Tokenomics

ACH was pre-mined in 2019 for over 10 billion tokens. It has a market cap of over $14 million. It has a circulating supply of over 4 billion tokens. ACH will be distributed as follows:

• 40% will go to enterprise and consumer transaction rewards
• 11% will be allocated to DeFi transaction rewards
• 6% will be used for transaction mobility
• 5% will go to enterprise partners
• 18% will be issued to the Alchemy Pay team
• Another 18% will be shared for marketing and operations.
• 2% will be allocated to Advisors

News on ACH

On Friday, 11th of August 2023, Alchemy Pay and YouSUI partnered to increase seamless transactions on the platform. Alchemy Pay’s fiat-crypto On-Ramp has been integrated into YouSUI’s platform so users can make fiat-to-crypto purchases with local fiat currencies using various payment methods. With this integration, YouSUI can leverage Alchemy Pay’s ramp services, heralding next-level convenience for accessing digital assets worldwide.

Is ACH a Good Investment?

Alchemy Pay is a payment solutions provider seeking to seamlessly connect fiat and crypto economies for worldwide consumers, merchants, and developers. However, it must be noted that the cryptocurrency market is quite volatile, so every investor is advised to do extensive research and consult qualified financial professionals before investing in Alchemy Pay.

Take Action

ACH is available for purchase from both centralized and decentralized exchanges including gate.io. Check the ACH price here and begin trading your favorite pairs.

• ACH/USDT
• ACH/ETH