What is Gate Pay?

Introduction

Cryptocurrencies are gaining increasing popularity globally with the development of blockchain technology and decentralized finance. More and more people begin to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, store of value, and investment. In recent years, several large events in cryptocurrency happened: In 2020, the DeFi summer spearheaded the decentralized finance (DeFi) explosion; in 2021, many famous enterprises, including Tesla, Mastercard, and Goldman Sachs, started their crypto businesses one after another; further, El Salvador introduced legislation to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, becoming the first sovereign country in the world to do so. The popularization of cryptocurrency is irresistible.

According to the latest industry report Digital 2022: Global Overview Report by DataReportal, the crypto penetration rate worldwide is constantly rising, and the proportion of the global population holding cryptocurrencies has reached 10%, an increase of more than 30% compared with a year ago. And in countries like Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa, and Turkey, the penetration rate of cryptocurrencies is even as high as 20%, signaling that holding cryptocurrencies has become a commonality.

With the explosive growth of the percentage of users owning cryptocurrencies in recent years, cryptocurrency holders have developed increasingly diversified needs for the use of cryptocurrencies. In addition to the core financial trading services, crypto holders are also looking for products to transfer or pay with cryptocurrencies in daily life or business scenarios. Gate Pay was created in such a context.

Source: DIGITAL 2022: GLOBAL OVERVIEW REPORT

What is Gate Pay?

Gate Pay is a contactless, borderless, secure crypto payment technology fully developed by Gate.io. It supports fast cryptocurrency payment and is free to use. Users can access Gate Pay simply by registering a Gate.io account to receive a variety of services such as online shopping, airline tickets and hotel booking, and entertainment services from third-party business partners. Gate Pay leverages many advantages of the Gate.io trading platform, including a rich diversity of cryptocurrencies available, convenient trading, and fast transfers, providing a convenient crypto-based payment experience for an increasing number of users around the world. Further, it eliminates the tedious process of converting to fiat currencies before paying, enabling users to witness for themselves the cryptocurrency payment revolution in the Web 3.0 world.

At present, Gate Pay enables two payment methods: QR code payment and address payment. It supports over 20 cryptocurrencies, trying to meet the needs of merchants and individual users to pay and receive cryptocurrencies anytime, anywhere in the Web 3.0 world. In the future, Gate Pay plans to provide user-to-user cryptocurrency payment services and will increase supported cryptocurrencies to more than 130, allowing users to send or receive crypto from friends and family around the world anytime. With the expanding and popularization of applications in the Gate.io ecosystem, Gate Pay will help bridge the gap between common users in the cryptocurrency world and make cryptocurrency an integral part of our daily life.

For individual users, Gate Pay can be used to pay with cryptocurrencies while shopping, making cross-border transfers, or receiving e-commerce services in an easier way. For enterprise users, Gate Pay is cost-efficient and fast to integrate, providing a one-stop cryptocurrency payment solution, which overcomes the obstacles of traditional finance. Through Gate Pay, merchants can directly receive thousands of cryptocurrencies from global cryptocurrency users anytime. In the future, Gate Pay will support real-time settlement as a local legal tender, bringing a wider user group to the financial system. This way, Gate Pay is committed to bringing the Web 3.0 lifestyle to the public and better serving individual users and business partners, hence contributing to the large-scale popularization and mass adoption of crypto assets globally.

Disadvantages of Traditional Electronic Payments

Traditional electronic payment is very expensive, as it involves many intermediaries and commercial cash flow that the general public does not actually know. Whether you are paying with a debit card or a credit card or simply by scanning the QR code, you will inevitably be raided by the bank or the clearing institution. Let’s also take Digital 2022: Global Overview Report as an example. In 2022, global revenues related to online purchases of consumer goods reached $3.85 trillion, with over 3.78 billion people shopping online. Without considering the exchange rate of cross-border payments, traditional electronic payment accounts for about 2%~4% of the total transaction volume, representing a market cap of over $100 billion.

Source: DIGITAL 2022: GLOBAL OVERVIEW REPORT

Hence, when you purchase goods or services through traditional electronic payment methods, your money reduces the moment you pay. Then where did all the money go? What is it used for? Let’s explain this using the cash flow of credit card payments. Your consumption records will be processed by the bank that provides the acquiring service first, then transferred to the clearing center for data aggregation, and then to the card-issuing bank for settlement and issuing the bill. For the final step, you pay according to the bill, as shown below.

Source: website

In the entire process of paying with a credit card, the acquiring bank, the clearing center, and the card-issuing bank will all take a commission. The merchants will not get all the money paid by the consumer: the intermediaries collect 2% ~ 4% of the total amount paid by the consumer as the commission fee, and the rest goes to the merchant. For example, if you spend $100 on shopping with a credit card today, the merchant only gets $98 at most. If it involves cross-border payment and the exchange rate, the commission will be higher. Merchants with brick-and-mortar stores have to spend extra money to install POS machines, which reduces their profits as the cost of installing and maintaining the machine is high.

Then how are the profits divided by the intermediaries? If the commission fee of a credit card transaction is 2%, the clearing institution gets at least 0.05%, while the acquiring bank gets 0.45%, and the card-issuing bank, the biggest vested interest therein, will get 1.5%. If the card-issuing bank is exactly the acquiring bank, it almost takes all the profits. Card-issuing banks spend not a penny on marketing, they therefore would like to issue reward points or gifts to encourage people to apply for cards. Actually, users employ part of the total amount they spend to buy these so-called reward points or gifts. This is indeed a profitable deal for intermediaries.

How does Gate Pay work?

Gate Pay is a cryptocurrency payment product based on blockchain technology. It does not serve as a payment intermediary but provides the infrastructure necessary for business partners to integrate into the blockchain network, enabling miners or validator nodes on the blockchain to handle the cash flow and liquidation, which distinguishes it from traditional electronic payment. Gate Pay provides all the services for free, making itself more competitive than traditional banks that charge handling fees for every single transaction. Notably, many high-performance blockchain networks such as Solana, Polygon, Apt, and Sui are also launching new payment services. With the advancement of blockchain technology, paying crypto with zero transaction fees is just around the corner.

You can use Gate Pay simply by scanning the QR code provided by the payee using the Gate.io app. Gate Pay will generate different QR codes for each product after the user places an order. After the user completes the payment, the merchant will be notified of the payment status. Throughout the process, users do not need to be concerned about the withdrawal, deposit, the time when the deposit is credited, and the integration of the blockchain network and the merchants’ platform. Gate Pay can be regarded as a necessary tool in the future Web 3.0 economy. For details about the operation and setup of Gate Pay, please refer to the API documentation of Gate Pay QR-code payment.

How to use Gate Pay?

Gate Pay is now available to all registered users. As long as you have completed KYC verification and have sufficient crypto assets in your account, you can use Gate Pay to purchase goods and services from third-party merchants who have integrated into the Gate.io App. We will take the Web 3.0 online shopping platform Uquid as an example to illustrate how to use Gate Pay on both the web page and the built-in MiniApp on the Gate.io App.

On Web

1. Navigate to the Uquid website, register, and log into your account at the top right. You may choose to log in directly using your Apple, Facebook, Google, or WalletConnect account.

1. Find the product you want to buy and click “Buy Now”.

1. Click the shopping cart icon at the top right, and then “Proceed to Checkout”.

1. Fill in the shopping address and billing address.

1. Move to the bottom of the checkout page, and tick “Crypto payment, Pay as you go!”

1. You will see several different cryptocurrency payment channels on this page. Choose Gate Pay and click the “Checkout” button.

1. The order information, together with the payment QR code, will be displayed.

1. Open your Gate.io app. Use the scanner on the upper right to scan the QR code. Then you will be prompted to confirm the payment.

1. Double-check the order information and click “Confirm” to complete the payment. If there is an insufficient balance in your payment account, you need to transfer funds from other accounts (spot account, margin account, futures account, etc.) to the payment account before proceeding with the purchase.

On App

1. Click MiniApp in the navigation section of the Gate.io app. If you cannot find the MiniApp, click “More” to access it.

1. MiniApp provides various services and products, including gaming, gift cards, transportation, travel, online shopping, etc. Here, we are also taking the Uquid shop as an example. Click “Uquid Shop” to enter it. The merchants and services on the MiniApp are all provided by third-party business partners and can be accessed with prior user authorization.

1. Choose the product you want to buy and click “Buy Now”.

1. Click the cart icon at the bottom right. Double-check the information and click “Proceed to Checkout”.

1. Products on the MiniApp will be paid directly with Gate Pay, eliminating the extra step of selecting the payment channel on the Web. Click “Checkout” to proceed.

1. If all the information is correct, click “Confirm” to complete the payment. If there is an insufficient balance in your payment account, you need to transfer funds from other accounts (spot account, margin account, futures account, etc.) to the payment account before proceeding with the purchase.

Advantages of Gate Pay

1. Pay with cryptocurrencies

Gate Pay allows users to purchase the services and goods they want with cryptocurrencies without needing to convert to fiat currencies first. Merchants who deploy Gate Pay can integrate it directly into their backends, allowing customers to pay with dozens of cryptocurrencies on their mobile phones anytime, anywhere.

2. Low cost

Gate Pay is a cryptocurrency payment solution based on blockchain technology. The transaction settlement is completed by miners and nodes on the chain with no intermediaries. It charges no service fee and eliminates the need to buy dedicated POS machines or QR code scanning devices. Users only need to download the Gate.io app on their mobile devices to use the service. The setup and operation of Gate Pay are very cheap, which greatly reduces merchants’ costs for providing the mobile payment service. This way, customers spend every penny on actual products and services, instead of on massive commissions charged by traditional financial institutions.

3. Expand the commercial market

Gate.io accommodates millions of crypto users. Merchants who have enabled Gate Pay can deploy their own applications on MiniApp to increase exposure and develop new sales channels. Enterprises could reach more target audiences if they accept cryptocurrency payments.

4. Manage your crypto assets with only one wallet

Gate Pay provides an all-in-one solution for users to access, send, spend and manage crypto earnings. Cryptocurrencies could be distributed as salaries or payments to suppliers in batches, or simply for trading, investment, risk hedging, and converting to fiat currencies on the Gate.io app.

5. Technical support

Gate Pay can assist you in building payment products catering to your business needs. If you don’t have developers on your team, you may choose the non-code solution, or create a built-in app on the MiniApp to get better exposure. The service charges no maintenance fee, unlike traditional electronic payment systems. If you are a merchant and want to deploy Gate Pay’s payment service, please fill in the merchant registration form and email us at gatepay@gate.io.

Hold the key to financial freedom

Gate.io was established in April 2013 with the goal of achieving a higher level of financial freedom. What is meant by “financial freedom” here does not refer to holding the amount of money enough to spend in a lifetime. It means the “freedom exempted from being deprived of assets”, so everyone can pursue their ideal lives based on their own will. When assessing the contemporary financial system meticulously, we may find many limitations in this world.

As the banker, Mayer Amschel Rothschild said: “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws.” Money is the blood of all economic activities, while governments and banks are like the heart of the human body. When you intend to open an offshore account overseas but are rejected, you find that traditional finance doesn’t welcome people to explore new possibilities; when your domestic bank account is frozen for no reason, you realize that your bank deposits do not actually belong to you; when people in any country face skyrocketing prices, they find their wealth being raided.

Source: AZ Quotes

Currencies issued, not by governments but by a decentralized financial system, are the only approaches to protecting private property and guaranteeing freedom of life. To break away from the shackles of the traditional financial system, one must first have his/her own wallet and use cryptocurrencies as a daily payment method. Gate Pay is created as a gateway for cryptocurrency holders and ordinary people who have not yet used cryptocurrency to smoothly enter the Web3 economy.

As Dr. Lin Han, the founder of Gate.io, said in Blockchain Week in Busan, “Gate Pay is our next major commitment to further crypto adoption. It will bridge the gap between Web3 and daily life, reducing the barriers for users and merchants to utilize cryptocurrency fully.” Gate.io believes that cryptocurrencies contribute a lot to the goal of decentralization by not only promoting the development of decentralized financial services such as DeFi, but by giving the key to unlocking personal wealth to every user. As long as you control the wealth yourself, you control your own life.