eftpos and mobile payments app, Beem It, have joined the Hedera Governing Council and will run Australia’s first Hedera network node this year.
The Hedera Governing Council is a group of enterprises and organisations which oversee a global network of nodes that enable low-cost micropayments for the Internet of Things (IoT) and provide access to content streamed over the internet, among other use cases.
eftpos CEO, Stephen Benton (pictured below) said eftpos joined the Council after successful proofs of concept last year and aims to enhance the company’s digital payments innovation strategy to better meet the payment needs of Australians in the future.
“By joining the Hedera Governing Council and running the Australian node, alongside some of the world’s largest and most influential companies, we are excited to participate in the development of next-generation micropayments technology that has the potential to open up entirely new ways of conducting business for Australian enterprises and enable compelling new experiences for Australian consumers.
“For example, low-cost micropayments to pay for internet content or tiny payments for device-to-device transactions.”
The eftpos digital strategy has five key elements: mobile wallets including Beem It, ecommerce, digital identity using connectID, fintech ecosystem access and national QR code payments.
The initial objective of the micropayments proof of concepts, led by eftpos Entrepreneur in Residence, Rob Allen, was to investigate ways to create a seamless, sub-cent micropayments experience as an alternative to traditional online paywalls and subscriptions.
“By combining the new eftpos API infrastructure with a consumer wallet-based experience, digital identity, and an AUD-based stablecoin using Hedera’s superfast, secure and low-cost distributed network, the PoC’s objective was demonstrably achieved,” Allen said.
“Use cases like this simply are not possible on other public blockchains. Along with several partners, we are now exploring a variety of use cases that this combination of technologies enables and the options to commercialise them. Being on the Hedera Governing Council will provide us with combined technical insight of all the Council members as well as a unique global perspective to improve our speed to market.
Hedera Hashgraph CEO and co-founder, Mance Harmon said, “As Australia’s debit card system operator, eftpos is a critical component of the country’s financial infrastructure, processing over two billion transactions in 2020 worth an average of more than $300 million each day.”
“We are pleased that they have joined the Hedera Governing Council as part of their new Australia-first digital product strategy. We look forward to their collaboration with other Council members and participants of the Hedera ecosystem to help make micropayments and other innovative financial models a reality for millions of consumers and billions of IOT devices.”