Cryptocurrency payment platforms are gradually being integrated into major e-commerce platforms and retail stores, but they still lag behind the user experience and performance of Apple Pay.
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Stijn Paumen, the CEO of Helio, a growing crypto payments platform, described the sector as still being in its early stages. According to Paumen, while Bitcoin and Ethereum are pioneers in decentralized blockchain protocols, the underlying layer of both chains cannot compete with the functionality and performance of traditional financial infrastructure.
Paumen pointed to Apple Pay as the benchmark, highlighting its ability to complete payments within three seconds simply by tapping the phone. He acknowledged that newer blockchain networks are starting to bridge the gap, but they still face challenges.
Helio was established in March 2022 by Paumen and chief technology officer Jim Walker. The duo had previously exited a successful startup and ventured into the crypto sector. Paumen explained that they were drawn to the potential of Solana’s high transaction per second (TPS) and fast finality to build a new crypto payment platform.
“Crypto payments became a thing ever since someone paid 10,000 BTC for a pizza. But the user experience was poor. Payment times took around 20 minutes, or payments were not processed at all,” Paumen said.
Helio’s platform enables merchants and e-commerce sites of all sizes to accept cryptocurrency payments. Paumen revealed that the platform processes around $30 million in monthly payments, mainly in the Web3 space for both users and merchants.
The platform has also made significant strides in the Solana ecosystem, facilitating the sale of 80,000 Solana mobile phones through its payment plugin. Helio’s notable integrations include managing the Solana Pay plugin on Shopify and its WooCommerce plugin.
Helio’s platform supports Bitcoin (BTC), Solana (SOL), Solana-based USD Coin (USDC), SPL tokens, and Ethereum-based payments. The platform also handles ticket sales for the annual Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC), which integrates with their Bizzabo event software.
Paumen believes that the challenge of Web3 payments potentially disrupting mainstream industry players lies within the ecosystem. He acknowledged that if a user has a Phantom wallet and knows how to use it, they can pay on Helio’s checkout with a single tap as fast as Apple Pay. However, he noted that this applies to a small percentage of crypto-fluent users.
Paumen anticipates gradual progress as more crypto-curious users adopt Web3 wallets and make payments in their preferred tokens. He also emphasized the need to improve the onboarding user experience to cater to a wider demographic.
“We talk internally about the concept of crypto granny. What we mean is that when crypto granny buys a Bored Ape hoodie for her grandson, she should be able to do so without owning crypto or even knowing what blockchain is,” Paumen added.
In conclusion, Paumen suggested that in the future, payment settlement on their own blockchain could be possible for platforms like Apple Pay. However, he firmly believes in the idea of a decentralized way to send money worldwide without intermediaries, ensuring fast or instant settlement with low fees.
While onboarding major e-commerce platforms is the most straightforward path to mass adoption, Paumen sees streaming platforms like Vimeo and even OnlyFans as excellent platforms for the utility of crypto payments.