Amsterdam-based Bitcoin payment gateway Coinzone, which now positions itself as a full-stack Bitcoin solution with a focus on Europe, announced that it will launch its wallet – the core of its upcoming platform – in early summer.
“Our goal is to assist Europe with all that Bitcoin has to offer the world of commerce,” says the Coinzone website.
According to the company, the Coinzone Wallet will make Bitcoin simple for a growing community of European consumers. The fully-featured personal wallet will support country-specific local currencies for bank deposits and withdrawals, transfers and instant payments.
“Growing European demand for Bitcoin means more and more consumers want a simple and secure way to transact,” says co-founder and CEO Manuel Heilmann. “We’ve developed Coinzone Wallet in response to an overwhelming demand from users seeking a wallet that stores their sensitive information locally in Europe.”
The Coinzone wallet has been specifically developed to address privacy and legal frameworks, such as EU privacy, secure payment and data protection laws in operation across the region. All data will be securely hosted in European locations, giving Coinzone Wallet users the assurance of protection under European privacy laws.
“Our aim is to make it easy for European consumers to do more with bitcoin,” added Heilmann. “The Coinzone Wallet is an important milestone for Coinzone towards a full-stack Bitcoin solution. It is set to literally get bitcoin into the hands of consumers so they can transact as and when they wish.”
In a blog post titled “Why We’re Building a Bitcoin Wallet,” Heilmann noted that Coinzone always had more in mind than just building a payment gateway. Coinzone team members run studies to understand the various needs across Europe, and move from country to country to understand the local requirements of European bitcoin users.
“We also hear over and over from consumers that is it too difficult to find places to spend bitcoin,” notes Heilmann’s post. “In every study we conduct at Coinzone, that is one of the top five questions people have. When you combine the rise in mobile usage with merchant adoption, we have an opportunity to create a new experience for consumers looking to spend their bitcoin. Our initial release of the Coinzone Wallet will make a step in that direction. Over time, we’ll continue to learn from feedback in order to enhance this feature.”
According to Coinzone CMO and Vice President of User Experience Paul Sylling, we are moving into an era of “frictionless” spending based on mobile payments, in which consumers expect an experience that is easier and more convenient. Bitcoin matches perfectly with the rise of mobile and new expectations of how payments should work.
“With the launch of the Coinzone Wallet, coupled with our existing merchant network, we position ourselves to reinvent the commerce experience,” Sylling told Bitcoin Magazine. “By building the full stack, we have the opportunity to offer additional unique services to our customers as well as streamline the user experience.”
Sylling confirmed that according to current expectations, the Coinzone Wallet will be launched in early summer, and consumers can already sign up for early access. The wallet, available for Android, iOS and the Web, will include features deemed important for non-technical Bitcoin users, such as language localization, conversion to local currencies, and withdrawals to local banks.
In order to address the problem mentioned by Heilmann – that it’s difficult to find places to spend bitcoin – the planned release includes map-based local search features. To merchants, Coinzone will offer point-of-sale (PoS) solutions to accept bitcoin payments on tablets and smartphones, and interfaces to existing payment processing systems.