Israel Positions Itself as a Bitcoin Technology Hub

Israel is an interesting one to keep an eye on, from a Bitcoin perspective.  Despite only having a small population of roughly 8 million, Israel is home to some of the most innovative technology startups and, when it comes to developer Bitcoin-related products and services, Israel is in the same “league” of countries  as US, UK, and India.

BitRated: Identity and Reputation Management Services for Bitcoin

One of the most interesting companies based in Israel is called BitRated.   This company provides the Bitcoin space with something that we haven’t had before;  a reputation and identity management service.  Considering how Bitcoin transactions are anonymous up to a certain extent, it’s hard to create a track record of successful transactions you have completed, let alone build up an online reputation.

But BitRated is about much more than just reputation management, as the company also offers fraud prevention and consumer protection services.  By creating a “trust factor” – something that is very rare when dealing with an unknown entity in an unknown part of the world – BitRated works on giving Bitcoin a more “legitimate” status in the eyes of everyday consumers.

On top of that, an escrow service is provided to all users.  Chargebacks and refunds in the Bitcoin space are nearly non-existent and rely solely on the recipient to send back money in case of a dispute.  However, with a decent escrow service in place, no funds will end up in the wrong hands until disputes have been completely resolved.

And, to make BitRated stand out even more, they were the very first Bitcoin company to offer multi-signature security to the public.  While this type of security has nearly become a standard for Bitcoin transactions, it was only recently released to the public by other major companies.  BitRated was the first company to do so, an honor that can never be taken away from this Israel-based company.

Coin Commerce: Point-of-Sale Devices for Retailers

When people in the Western world think of Bitcoin payments for retailers, they automatically flock to suggesting applications for mobile devices.  There is a good reason for that train of thought, as most of us have at least one mobile “smart” device at our disposal.  However, that is not the case in every part of the world, which is why we need other alternatives as well.

And, what better way of providing a Bitcoin payment option than something most retailers are already familiar with?  Payment terminals have integrated into our society unnoticed,  even though most people use them multiple times per week.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we are slowly evolving into a cashless society, and will start relying more and more on other forms of payment.

Coin Commerce is tackling that hurdle by introducing Bitcoin point-of-sale terminals to local merchants.  The most interesting part about these terminals is the fact that, while the customer can pay in Bitcoin, the retailer will receive their money in local fiat currency the day after.  Coin Commerce operates in the same way as popular Bitcoin payment processors, such as BitPay, Coinbase and BitKassa, in that regard.  The major difference is they also deliver the hardware needed.

And, the best is yet to come, as Coin Commerce charges almost no fees for conducting payments.  Granted, there is a flat 1% transaction fee for all types of payments, but, even though the Coin Commerce POS terminal accepts credit card payments, the company does not charge an additional card fee for using them.  And Bitcoin payments are never subject to any fees, regardless of how the payment method is implemented.

Source: Investigative Research

Images courtesy of Pixabay, BitRated and Coin Commerce