Mobile Payments App Slide Includes Crypto Option PYMNTS.com

BitPay, which is the world’s largest provider of bitcoin and cryptocurrency services, has announced that mobile payments app Slide will now add cryptocurrency as a payment option, according to a press release.

Slide, which was created by the PayPal-backed Raise Marketplace, will allow people paying with crypto to earn 5 percent cash back when paying through BitPay, the release stated. That’s a new addition to the usual 4 percent offered when users pay through contactless checkout.

Jay Klauminzer, CEO of Raise Marketplace, said in the release that the rising usage of cryptocurrency made it a prudent move to allow it to be used for Slide.

In other news, SatoshiPay will become the first company to use German Bankhaus von der Heydt‘s (BDVH) fully euro-backed stablecoin EURB, according to a press release from investing company Blue Star Capital.

BDVH has partnered with Bitbond to introduce EURB to the Stellar network, the release stated. Bitbond was developed and integrated the coin, while BDVH provides the banking infrastructure and regulatory framework.

EURB, according to the release, is the first asset directly backed by a banking institution on Stellar. It will allow for instant money transfers on blockchain.

Meanwhile, Japan’s SBI Financial Services has acquired crypto trading counterparty B2C2, according to a press release.

With the acquisition, SBI is now firmly entrenched in the cryptocurrency market and is the “natural entry point” for financial institutions (FIs) looking for a bank counterparty to trade digital assets, the release stated.

Yoshitaka Kitao, president and CEO of SBI Holdings, said in the release that B2C2’s “exceptional reputation,” vision and expertise made SBI “look forward to working in partnership as we expand our footprint across the global markets.”

And, Robert Farkas, the 34-year-old founder of crypto firm Centra Tech that scammed investors, has received a year-long sentence in prison, Bloomberg reported.

Centra Tech was promoted with the help of celebrities like DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather, who later settled charges related to the matter. The company claimed to have the backing of a Harvard-educated CEO and partnerships with big companies like Mastercard and Visa, which were all false and used to dupe investors out of money.