[Ukraine] LiqPay is a startup that wants to compete with Paypal by allowing its users to withdraw and send money with their mobile phones for free.
Watch LiqPay’s pitch at 00:40:58
The service allows users to send money from Visa or MasterCard cards to an account linked to a mobile phone number. Money can then be withdrawn or transferred by sending SMS invitations to clients, customers or banks.
LiqPay uses one-time password technology and promises that the transfers are safe, which is pretty important when it comes to these kinds of services. Users are naturally sceptical and the success of the company is resting on how reliable they seem. Adding to the credibility is that the company has been developed by Ukraine’s largest bank, PrivatBank.
But there’s competition on the field. Another mobile payment service at Le Web this year is Squareup. The service allows users to accept credit card payments on the go by a device that you plug in to your iPhone. Mobile payments seem to be something to look out for in the coming year. A combination of usability and trustworthiness is probably what’s going to win the race.
But LiqPay has a bigger plan, they want to eliminate coins by making them digital. They’re launching a global initiative called Killcoin.org to help rid the world of coins and the environmental problems that go hand in hand with the productions of coins.
The company gets revenue by charging users who use a Visa card or withdraw money from an ATM. They also get partner commissions if users pay for services like Skype with LiqPay. They’ve already partnered up with some big names and signed a deal with Visa last week.