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Zone Launches Blockchain-Based PoS Payment Gateway to Counter Chargeback Fraud
- Zone, a payment infrastructure company in Africa, has launched a blockchain-based PoS payment gateway product built on its payment infrastructure.
- According to the company, the introduction of this latest product is in line with its cross-channel payment objectives, following the success of its ATM transaction processing service.
- Zone’s PoS payment gateway product is expected to enable banks and fintechs using PoS payment terminals to facilitate payments. The product would enable direct routing of transactions to issuers.
Zone said it connects acquirers directly to issuers through its decentralized payment switching network for greater transaction speed and reliability.
As a CBN-licensed payment switch, Zone can implement direct routing of transactions to issuers without violating regulatory guidelines on interbank payments, the company noted.
The company has focused on building banking infrastructure, rebranding from AppZone to Zone to move towards blockchain payments. He also raised $8.5 million three months ago in an oversubscribed seed funding round.
Zone’s entry into the PoS market comes as Nigeria’s regulator tightens the environment for PoS agents. In May 2024, following a directive from the federal government, PoS operators must register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) reduce fraud and encourage transparency. This directive requires all of Nigeria’s 1.9 million PoS agents to comply by July 7, 2024.
Zone’s payment gateway plans to improve PoS transactions by enabling same-day settlement for payees and their financial institutions. It also aims to eliminate chargebacks and chargeback fraud.
It does this by “automatically refunding customers for failed transactions and automatically rejecting fraudulent chargebacks in real time,” Zone said.
Commenting on the launch, Obi Emetarom, CEO and co-founder of Zone, said: “Our PoS payment gateway product is a commitment to financial inclusion and the digital future of all payments in Africa.
“With this new offering, we are thrilled to have taken another important step towards our vision of a world where individuals and businesses can make and receive instant payments to and from anyone in the world, through any payment method and in any currency. “
While Zone has extended their blockchain infrastructure for financial companies to work for PoS, they are not the only payment infrastructure offering PoS payment gateways; others include Interswitch, Unified Payments and eTranzact.
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However, Zone said: “These other PoS payment gateway providers use a centralized architecture to process payments for their financial services providers, which is fraught with reliability and friction issues.
“Financial service providers using their infrastructure inherit these inefficiencies. But Zone has launched a first-of-its-kind product using a decentralized architecture powered by blockchain technology.”
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