Hassan Maishera
Blockchain payments ecosystem Nimiq announced on Tuesday that it has launched Nimiq Pay, an easy-to-use self-custodial crypto payments app.
In a press release shared with Cryptowisser, the company revealed that Nimiq Pay was launched during this year’s Token2049 Week in Dubai. The app will support payments across multiple networks spanning both crypto and traditional finance.
Nimiq added that its app is also the first-ever crypto payments app to integrate cross-chain atomic swaps to the BTC Lightning Network. This would allow users to pay at more than 15,000 global locations that accept BTC LN payments.
The features will be released in the second version of Nimiq Pay and will make it possible for users to spend their NIM at places that traditionally accept Bitcoin Lightning payments.
To enable this, Nimiq is partnering with Bluecode, a European payment scheme which offers more than 20,000 payment locations globally, plus other stealth partnerships with traditional payment providers.
As an open-source blockchain ecosystem for payments, Nimiq intends to make its native payment coin NIM the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency for purchases, both online and in stores.
Nimiq added that it is expanding its focus beyond platform-independent browser apps to smartphone native apps. This would allow it to leverage mobile device native functionalities, such as NFC, push notifications, etc.
The Nimiq Pay app is available to users on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The app has a 12-word word seedphrase alongside a combination of native smartphone technologies such as fingerprint scanners and facial recognition to ensure extra security.
The first version of Nimiq Pay will enable users to transact at more than 2,400 NAKA point-of-sale terminals globally. While commenting on this launch, Max Burger, Ecosystem Developer of Nimiq, said,
"Through enabling BTC Lightning network payments with NIM in a self-custodial way and constantly integrating new payment partners into our expanding network of acceptance locations, Nimiq is poised to become the world's premier crypto payment ecosystem."
Nimiq Pay is also making it possible for businesses large and small to explore the potential of crypto payments. The app is launching a reward points scheme, which will enable any sponsor to launch a crypto rewards program for their users.
With this program, businesses can target specific areas like cities and provinces across the world or various merchant brands or franchises, with adoption campaigns. This will enable brands to loyalty points to consumers who pay at their stores or purchase their products with NIM.
Nimiq is working to ensure that Nimiq Pay gains broader physical acceptance than Bitcoin. To achieve this goal, Nimiq has to offer a global network of payment acceptance locations, surpassing the number of Bitcoin acceptance points within a few years.
Nimiq focuses on accessibility and real-world utility and is powered by its own world-class technology. It is building a growing ecosystem of acceptance locations and evolving strategic partnerships. These efforts are geared towards real-world adoption, making Nimiq a pivotal player in the push for cryptocurrency acceptance and use.
