Solana Labs has launched a payments protocol called Solana Pay to let merchants accept crypto payments directly from consumers.
According to the company’s press release, Solana Pay enables merchants to accept the USDC stablecoin, Solana’s native token SOL, and other Solana-based tokens on the Solana blockchain.
The company said that merchants can get real-time access to their money with increased ability to manage working capital, liquidity and liability protection, and direct access to their money in seconds, with no middlemen and no holding periods or bank transfer fees.
Solana Pay was developed as a decentralized, open peer-to-peer protocol with the initial support of Solana Labs, Circle, Checkout.com, Citcon, and digital wallet integrations from Phantom and FTX and Slope.
“Circle is thrilled to be working with Solana to simplify and adapt USDC payments for consumer-facing businesses,” said Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Circle. “The launch of Solana Pay is a critical step toward broadening access and usage for merchants and customers who want to participate in the rapidly evolving landscape for the next generation of payment technology.”
“Lowering transaction costs and improving settlement times is a perfect use case for cryptocurrencies that helps both consumers and merchants,” said Phantom Chief Product Officer Chris Kalani. “The line between the real world and digital payments will continue to blur and we all stand to benefit tremendously.”
“FTX looks forward to Solana Pay’s powerful use cases, the disintermediation it will bring to the payments space, and the increased utility from which consumers can benefit,” said FTX Head of Payments Adam Jacobs.