Blockchain fintech services company Centi AG has set a new record of processing 1 million financial transactions in 24 hours. The million transactions that were part of the FinovateEurope 2024 demonstration in London this week consisted of:
Microtransactions worth 1 cent each in Centi’s stablecoin tokens. It showcases the speed and efficiency of Centi and BSV blockchains, all at near-zero cost.
This presentation is a public demonstration of Centi’s proprietary stablecoin technology designed to be high-speed and scalable. The company is solidifying its reputation as a leader in micropayments denominated in recognizable units while fully complying with existing financial regulations.
Success at FinovateEurope 2024 demonstrates Centi’s ability to develop a broader range of financial applications across banking and other fintech services, the company said.
It has been almost a year since Centi launched the Swiss Franc Stablecoin (CCHF), a tokenized asset based on the BSV blockchain contract. CCHF is designed to be used by both businesses and consumers, and micropayments will be a key feature. In traditional financial networks, it is impossible to send transactions worth less than 1 cent because the fees are prohibitive.
Stablecoin offers speed and familiarity
Stablecoins that allow micropayments are attractive to all participants in the digital economy. The name and value are familiar, and BSV’s low usage fees eliminate costs associated with mainstream digital payment networks, including credit cards and other payment apps. Such speeds and low costs are still not available in most blockchain networks. This is especially true considering BSV’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) verification protocol, which is considered more secure and robust than other “high-speed” blockchain networks.
For reference, for one million transactions, credit and card-based networks charge users more than US$100,000 in fees. Ethereum (without Layer 2 solutions) costs a whopping $3 million for the same number of transactions, while the more “cost-effective” Layer 2 solutions still cost $13,000.
Layer 2 solutions are separate networks but connected to the Layer 1 blockchain and typically bundle transactions for later confirmation on-chain. Bundling transactions in a separate network layer is similar to how credit cards handle smaller charges, but blockchain handles more frequent payments. Processing and settling individual transactions at Layer 1 (on-chain) without bundling and at very little cost may seem like the holy grail. However, BSV is already doing this.
Bernhard Müller, Founder and CEO of Centi AG, said:
“Centi’s showcase at Finovate London signifies our deep commitment to transforming the payments landscape. “Our technology sets new industry standards in speed, cost-effectiveness and security, heralding a new era of accessible and inclusive financial transactions.”
Senti has higher goals than demo records
The company has no intention of settling for just one million transactions per day. An additional goal is to reach 20 million people per day in 2024.
Centi can also process fast payments in under 3 seconds, comparable to “instant payments” done on banking networks. ‘Immediately’ is in quotation marks because the bank-based payment has not yet been finalized, even though the transaction has been completed on the merchant/consumer’s part.
However, Centi does not consider itself an external competitor to banks and other fintech service providers. Instead, the company prefers to partner with these institutions and collaborate in integrating stablecoin technology into existing structures.
This is a better way to address existing technological limitations in banking and finance, including inclusivity/accessibility and micropayments, and find ways to translate innovations into real-world applications.
Watch: Centi—Linking Digital Currency and Traditional Banking
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