Blockchain-based technology, BlockPay, offers merchants the capacity to accept digital currencies at zero cost

BitShares Munich is building the future of digital payments.

After securing a considerable financial footing following their recent pre-initial coin offering (pre-ICO), the Germany-based independent software development company is poised to deliver on their prospective vision to reshape the digital payment landscape for businesses and consumers, on a global scale.

The company’s crowdsale wrapped up on Sept. 5, ending after 13 days. BitShares Munich raised 1,095 bitcoin (BTC), roughly US $657,000 at the time of the sale’s end.

According to Christoph Hering, founder and CEO of BitShares Munich, there are 100 million BlockPay tokens in total but only 6.5 million were distributed during the pre-ICO, with more to be given out in a future coin offering.

“We distributed to a minimum of 550 holders who will be able to trade the BlockPay tokens immediately on the decentralized OpenLedger Exchange,” said Hering.

The BlockPay tokens are currently listed on CoinMarketCap.com, CryptoCompare, CoinGecko, and at the native explorer of OpenLedger and Bitshares.

On LinkedIn, chief operating officer at Net One Systems Singapore Pte. Ltd., Toshikazu Masane, expressed his interest and support when the sale came to a close, stating, “I invested some to this pre-ICO. I am looking forward to the future success.”

The company’s vision, according to Hering, is one that is digital currency agnostic and is a zero-cost point-of-sale (POS) solution for merchants worldwide, which is what BlockPay is, in a nutshell. It also allows, from the consumer’s perspective, the ability to use their favorite Bitcoin wallet like MyCelium, Jaxx or Circle to pay in-store.

BitShares Munich just released the latest version of the technology, BlockPay “S”, at the Google Play Store. In addition, the company will be releasing BlockPay for Odoo in the weeks to come.

BlockPay supports all digital currencies like Bitcoin, Steem, Ethereum, Dash and Smartcoins. In addition, the system has a built-in Loyalty Points feature and eReceipts capability. The BlockPay point-of-sale system can also run standalone (as a free application) or integrated with existing systems like Odoo (formerly known as OpenERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)).

Odoo is an enterprise platform businesses can use to easily manage the basics of the company, for example, warehouse management, human resources, finance, sales, accounting and more. There are an estimated 50,000 businesses worldwide using Odoo.

BlockPay is globally adaptable, available in 44 languages, and is compatible with existing systems and technologies such as vending and ticket machines, explained Hering.

But also key to BitShares Munich’s vision are Echo and Stealth, which will, according to the company’s roadmap, form a trio of technologies that could, by 2017, revolutionize the respective spaces or vertical markets they currently occupy.

Next year, the organization plans to launch a second crowdsale for the release of Echo, which is described by Hering as a modern peer-to-peer, encrypted social messaging and digital payment application.

According to BitShares Munich, “Echo will enable anybody to exchange encrypted chat and social media messages via the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a content-addressable, peer-to-peer hypermedia distribution protocol, transforming digital payments thanks to modern blockchain technologies.”

Additionally, the company’s third product, Stealth, is targeted at privacy. Hering posted to Steemit roughly a month ago: “We are proposing to continue the development of the Stealth smart contract (beyond Blinded Transfers) which will be used to facilitate total anonymity and untraceability of the sending/receiving accounts and amounts.”

Digital currency Dash’s PrivateSend capability draws similar comparison. By having a decentralized mixing service within the currency, Dash is able to offer users complete privacy when they use it.

It is certainly crucial for one's personal privacy but also business interests. Being able to trace by whom and where funds are going opens the door to unsavory tactics by competing interests. Thus more and more digital currencies are looking to incorporate such capabilities.

Visit bitshares-munich.de and blockpay.ch for more information on BitShares Munich and BlockPay.