Align Commerce Unveils Blockchain-Based Payment Rail to China

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by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
Align Commerce Unveils Blockchain-Based Payment Rail to China

The move is intended to boost the trade between the USA and China.

Align Commerce has recently announced the opening of payment corridor to China. Now businesses can establish bilateral trade between the USA and Asian country.

According to Business Wire, Align Commerce has managed to combine the blockchain with traditional payments, simple invoicing and real-time payments tracking to boost trading relations of two great economies. Remarkably, business volume between the USA and China has made up more than $555 billion in recent years.

Align Commerce will enter the New Year of the Monkey with an $8 USD flat fee, including foreign exchange fees, for all export-import payments to China from the United States for eight days from Monday, February 8 through Monday, February 15. The news comes right in time to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

“Align Commerce is excited to honor Chinese culture and tradition as we celebrate the Year of the Monkey,” said Marwan Forzley, CEO and co-founder of Align Commerce. “The number eight is traditionally a lucky number in Chinese culture, and we’re hoping to spread the luck around and help small business owners save some money with our ‘$8 for Eight Days’ promotion.”

Align Commerce is a global payments provider that offers quick and secure transactions in local currency. Align is transforming the archaic international payments industry by leveling the playing field for small businesses in cross-border payments. Align’s revolutionary multi-rail technology enables payments via a simple, frictionless, and inexpensive manner.

Align has used blockchain to develop a new way of money transfer. The process in general looks as follows: the company picks up the payment from the sender’s bank, converts it from the local currency to Bitcoin, transfers the money over the Bitcoin blockchain, converts to the recipient’s currency and transfers the money to their bank. It allows moving money all over the world reliably, transparently and almost instantaneously (the transfer can still take up to three days because not only blockchain but traditional banking system as well is used in the chain).

“We are founded by a world class team with decades of experience in international and domestic payments. Our mission is to change the legacy financial payment system through innovation. We are constantly challenging and improving the costly and outdated payments industry. Building a new user focused financial ecosystem that services businesses in a global market. We are backed by some of the most sophisticated investors in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York and Boston” – says Align’s team.

Indeed, at the end of 2015 Align Commerce announced $12.5 million funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Randy Komisar, Kleiner Perkins’s general partner who will also join Align’s board, explained why they preferred to invest in Align, a young startup which is already present in 60 countries: “We were looking for applications of the blockchain for the last couple of years in ways that could build real businesses and add real value that weren’t at the mercy of the currency valuation which will move up and down and all over the place. And of those blockchain companies, we invested in Align, because we believe it’s a market that’s underserved, with a CEO who understood it well and early traction from customers who reinforced that value.”

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