KUALA LUMPUR, 16 April 2018:
Making online payments to local merchants – from phone bills to product purchases – will be launched on Wednesday, said an India-born IT entrepreneur who has relocated to Malaysia since 2002.
Everus Technologies Sdn Bhd founder and chief executive officer Srinivas Oddati today said this facility is made possible with the simultaneous launch of such payment services in 135 countries – via partnerships with global payment gateways.
The catch – one needs to have some form of cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or ethereum, first. Srinivas said Everus cannot let Malaysians buy cryptocurrency directly on its platform just yet as Bank Negara Malaysia and Malaysian authorities have yet to give permission.
“Once the authorities grant permission, Malaysians can pay for the cryptocurrencies using their bank accounts and debit or credit cards, just like how some other countries have allowed such transactions.”
While cryptocurrencies may be hogging the limelight in recent months – with the meteoric rise and fall in traded values – Srinivas said the Everus focus is on creating the ecosystem for such digital money being easily handled for daily usage.
As such, Everus has developed a phone app to make such services convenient – and has plans to further expand this technology offering, he noted.
Srinivas said blockchain – the computer intelligence underlying how cryptocurrencies work – has the potential to be used in other fields like health and data processing as well, adding that the firm already contracts in India and the US to offer such solutions.
What is blockchain?
Blockchain refers to how a computer file can be worked on multiple people at the same time – a capability that only recently became possible in the digital world, even though it can be easily done in real-life.
While several children can draw with crayons on a large sheet of paper at the same time, computer systems only let one person access the drawing (or “file”) at any one time.
Examples of how blockchain has become commonplace can be seen with Google Docs – where several people can work brainstorm online simultaneously on the same document.
Cryptocurrency takes advantage of this possibility – each “token” can be seen as a word which can be fitted into the blank space within a sentence that metaphorically represents an offering by a merchant.
From an investment trading perspective, the different flavours of cryptocurrency “tokens” can be viewed as alternate word spelling – American, British, Malaysian, etc – where demand can fluctuate. A good example would be “crispy” chicken rendang – which rendition is accepted to be a better dish?
Looking forward, blockchain could make Waze guidance even better during peak hour traffic jams – alerting you within seconds when a window opens so you can actually reach your destination within minutes instead of inching along in jams.