By
Bena Ilyas
April 19th, 2024
Adopting capabilities in both regulatory compliance and financial technological innovation, Ramp wants everyone to enjoy the benefits of a decentralized financial set ecosystem.
Ramp, in its bid to make cryptocurrency accessible to everyone, has achieved another milestone: its ‘PayPal for Crypto’ service has won the FCA i.e. Financial Conduct Authority registration. This crypto payments infrastructure set up is the 8th firm to secure this status with the UK’s financial services watchdog. At a time when there is a growing regulatory burden on the crypto industry leading to as many as 64 crypto-based firms canceling their FCA registration plans, Ramp has proven to be a trustworthy payment services firm.
What does Ramp Offer?
Ramp offers customers what the other crypto exchanges and startups do not. It provides brands and partners crypto-enabled services within their payment models to make crypto transactions easier. A large crypto consumer base conducts their daily trade and transactions through exchanges like Coinbase and are enthusiasts with market knowledge about these digital assets. However, Ramp comes to the rescue and helps exploit the true potential of crypto.
It offers a decentralized, non-custodial full-stack payment infrastructure aka its Software Development Kit. The SDK can be integrated with the client’s app/wallet thus enabling their customers to engage in crypto-enabled services. Additionally, the client doesn’t need to go through the hassles of getting certifications or licenses as Ramp would facilitate these crypto transactions on the client’s behalf for the end customer.
The startup brands itself as ‘Paypal for Crypto’ as it wants to have the same impact with respect to digital assets. Like how PayPal has transformed the payments ecosystem across e-commerce and online businesses, Ramp’s goal is to provide a similar level of infrastructure to their clients. This will not just help crypto enthusiasts but also prove to be seamless for a non-crypto customer.
Some of the product features highlighted on the website can be summed up as follows:
- Reduction in drop-out rates, a common phenomenon associated with delays and issues in payments
- Easy and secure KYC through open banking and other similar data sources
- Expansion of user funnel is made possible with Ramp’s extremely user-friendly design that makes onboarding of both enthusiasts and non-coiners easy
Significance of the FCA Registration for Ramp
The UK has been at the forefront of putting multiple stringent regulations on the crypto market. In June, the organization banned Binance Markets Limited from conducting any business in the country. In other news, Google limited UK ads to only FCA-approved Fintechs. All these points towards the rigorous scrutiny that the crypto-based organizations have to go through while conducting business. Against such a backdrop, Ramp’s FCA registration is indeed a big step for the company.
Under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations, 2017, it is mandatory for all entities that undertake crypto-based activities in the UK to get FCA Registration. As part of this process, companies are expected to provide evidence-backed details on their operations, marketing, security, and encryption provided against financial threats.
CEO and Co-founder of Ramp Szymon Sypniewicz stressed the company’s dedication towards protecting its clients, their clients’ customers as well as the whole financial ecosystem by putting regulatory compliance at the heart of their payment infrastructure. It has had a steady growth and successfully raised $7.2 million in funding while achieving 50% MYM growth since the last year. Its partnership with more than 200 developers among the likes of Mozilla, Opera, Dapper Labs, Argent, Zerion, and investors like NFX, Bartek Pucek (IKEA), and Balaji S. Srinivasan (Coinbase) is a testimony to the company’s relevance in the fintech world.