A New Cryptocurrency Joins Bitcoin in the Growing Use of Fintech

June 22, 2016 – Over the last few days I have posted articles about business migrating to the cloud and the use of digital currencies. Yesterday The Royal Canadian Mint’s MintChip digital currency launched in Toronto. A MintChip you say? Doesn’t that sound like something you would put in a cookie? Well, it’s not.

MintChip, developed at the Mint, was originally conceived in 2012 with a first implementation in 2014. The Mint later sold its interest in the technology to a financial app Toronto startup, nanoPay. And now that company is introducing MintChip, the currency and app, to a limited number of merchants and for use in peer-to-peer transactions beginning in downtown Toronto.

The test program, being conducted in Liberty Village, a downtown neighbourhood, involves local merchants who can accept payment using the app running on an iPad or iPhone. Inputting a transaction automatically generates a QR code which can be scanned to complete a purchase. nanoPay’s Chief Marketing Officer  Simon Keogh states, “Liberty Village is perfect because it has sort of an isolated environment and offers a millennial population that can download and try MintChip.”

MintChip works just like BitCoin. It replaces cash and can store units of commonly accepted currency. It can convert any item with assigned value such as loyalty points into dollar equivalents expressed as MintChip currency.

Users store their  MintChips in an e-wallet. Merchants accepting MintChips pay no transaction fees. It works the same as cash which means no debit or credit card fees. In peer-to-peer transactions buyers and sellers can move MintChips from one e-wallet to another also for free.

This fall MintChip plans wider distribution. But for now thirteen Liberty Village merchants and the residents living in the condos in the surrounding area are Canada’s guinea pigs. To get people using the cryptocurrency, MintChip, until July 29 will offer a 20% cash back bonus up to a maximum of $50.