International payments cost companies a great deal of money and Bitcoin-related startup Align Commerce wants to change that. According to Marwan Forzley, CEO and Founder of Align Commerce, “businesses spend over $50 billion on wire and foreign exchange fees,” and his startup hopes to change that by using the Bitcoin blockchain as intermediary instead of the current, inefficient legacy systems in place now.

To do this, Align Commerce has announced the launch of the beta version of its service the Align Commerce Payments Platform, now available in 34 countries.

Using the platform, customers and businesses will be able to pay in their local fiat currency and businesses can receive in their local currency without having to interact with foreign exchanges.

As Bitcoin is a global phenomenon that does not stop at borders, Forzley envisions using it as a method for transferring wealth in the same manner that wire transfers do now. The usual transfer of money across borders, according to Forzley, can take up to seven days and can be compounded with complexity and multiple fees.

“The blockchain offers a ready alternative,” says Forzley. “The Align Commerce Payments Platform is the first in the industry to use this global rail to help small and medium-sized businesses quickly collect and receive payments in their local currency while avoiding high wire fees and various hidden fees.”

Using the technology of the Bitcoin blockchain, Align Commerce claims that it can cut down payment processing time down to as little as one or three business days, down from as many as seven.

A second benefit of using the Bitcoin blockchain is that it brings a sense of transparency to transactions. Current legacy systems use a closed system of multiple banks and each step can be fraught with a lack of communication. With the blockchain, funding, sending, and receiving, all occur on the Bitcoin ledger and can be followed from one address to another predictably by those who know the addresses and transactions.

As a result of using the Bitcoin blockchain to transfer funds between businesses, Align Commerce can brag lower fees—due to less intermediary steps—higher speeds, and greater transparency.

For developers, the Align Commerce Payment Platform has released documentation on using its API. The payment platform can integrate with a number of common ecommerce systems such as Ubercart, WordPress ecommerce, Zencart, and others.

The Align Commerce Payment Platform is currently available for sending and receiving money in Austria, Belgium, China, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States. And businesses can receive payments, but not send them, via the platform in Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

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