Leading Edge Blockchain Payments Startup Achieves EMV Certification

KENNEWICK, WA – January 30, 2019 – BlockChyp, a leading-edge payment software and gateway provider, announced today that it has completed Level 3 EMV certification with North American Bancard’s (NAB) EPX processing platform, bridging the gap between conventional credit card networks and blockchain technology. The solution uses PCI 5.x-certified Luxe series terminals from Equinox Payments for payment acceptance and advanced customer engagement solutions.

Obtaining EMV certification enables BlockChyp to start processing live transactions for American Express, Discover, Visa, and Mastercard immediately. Support for conventional credit card transactions is the first step in BlockChyp’s strategy to bring its blockchain payment platform to real world point-of-sale environments.

“The BlockChyp firmware and payment gateway are based on a proprietary blockchain that is used for settlement records and one of the most fraud-resistant gift card systems ever developed,” said Jeffrey Payne, chief technology officer, BlockChyp. “Our unique end-to-end encryption system borrows key concepts from blockchain cryptography, which protects point-of-sale environments from attack vectors and threats that PCI compliance standards have not yet addressed.”

BlockChyp’s proprietary blockchain draws inspiration from the block lattice design pioneered by the Nano/RaiBlocks team. Instead of a single blockchain, BlockChyp’s thousands and eventually millions of parallel blockchains improve security and speed by reducing contention for a single blockchain. “This eliminates the time delays associated with conventional proof-of-work confirmation, providing the fast response times and transaction throughput essential in real time point-of-sale authorizations,” according to BlockChyp’s CTO.

BlockChyp will use its blockchain as a gift card system to prove out the technology internally before turning their attention to blockchain based consumer credit. “There is only a very subtle difference between gift cards and true consumer credit cards on the BlockChyp system,” said Payne. “Blockchain technology, especially the scalable block lattice approach, have finally made it possible for merchants and card issuers to interact directly with no card associations or other middlemen extracting fees. We’re focused on conventional payment transactions for the time being, but a pure blockchain consumer credit network is inevitable. We’re focused on getting payment terminals that embrace that vision onto Main Street as soon as possible.”

“Blockchyp brings a unique perspective and solution set to the integrated payments space,” said Pat Ward, vice president of ISV Sales, NAB. “Their quick, clean, and effective integration process creates a first-class certification experience for any ISV looking to work with NAB.”

BlockChyp’s engineering team was able to complete the complex Level 3 certification process in just eleven weeks. Continued Jeffrey Payne: “We had a front row seat for the industry’s first wave of integrated EMV solutions and knew it could be done so much better. Our goal is to give developers what they really want, not what the payment industry thinks they want. This makes us laser-focused and dedicated to solving real world problems.”

BlockChyp certified the solution using Equinox Payment’s Luxe line of PCI 5.x certified payment terminals, which extend the ability for merchants to easily push ads, videos, surveys and other customer-engagement features directly to the terminals via BlockChyp’s secure merchant portal, eliminating the reliance on third-party service delivery platforms.

“We’re delighted that BlockChyp chose our Luxe terminals to bring secure, next-generation technology to the point of sale,” said Rob Hayhow, vice president, Equinox Payments. “Our boldly unique Luxe architecture, combined with Blockchyp’s blockchain technology and advanced management portal, quickly allows merchants to process payments using the latest security technology while also extending them full control of the display for marketing purposes.”

About BlockChyp: BlockChyp is a payment processing company focused on enabling payments through integrated Point of Sale applications. BlockChyp removes the burden of PCI compliance from both the Point of Sale Developer and Merchant. To learn more about BlockChyp please visit www.blockchyp.com or email contact@blockchyp.com.