09/07/2024
: PAYTACA ROLLS OUT CRYPTO-WALLET APP IN CEBU
Paytaca Inc., the first Financial Technology Application (FinTech App) developed in Eastern Visayas region, has successfully launched its Bitcoin Cash (B*H) wallet app in Cebu City on July 7, 2024.
โStarting with this launch, we hope to grow the marketplace and our network of partner merchants in Cebu from now on,โ said Paytaca CEO Dr. Joemar Taganna.
He added that the use of B*H, though the Paytaca app, reduces payment processing and costs, โletting us offer an online marketplace with lower prices and fees than competitors.โ
โWe bring this benefit to every city we enter, including Cebu. Our POS app also enables fast, almost zero-fee B*H payments for brick-and-mortar stores, saving merchants from the fees associated with credit cards and e-wallets,โ Taganna told Sunstar Philippines.
Aaron JP Almadro, Paytaca chief marketing officer, thanked the attendees and their Cebu partner merchants during the launching activity at the Robinsons Galleria Cebu.
โIt was both scary and exhilarating to hold a launch at a new city, and Cebu, at that was on a whole different level. The team didn't know what to expect, but the Cebuano crowd was attentive and inquisitive,โ said Almadro.
โIt was fun introducing Paytaca to our new found friends and we look forward to being a partner in the drive for a truly cashless, decentralized, and seamless payment system,โ he added.
As a mobile app that administers cashless payment transactions between a user and merchant, Paytaca is using a blockchain technology that guarantees a virtually tamper-proof recording of transaction.
Paytaca Chief Finance Officer Jomari Abellar was also amazed at how the Cebuanos "are welcoming and receptive to the idea of using cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin Cash, as a mode of payment for day-to-day transactions."
"We have not even officially launched yet in Cebu, but we have already onboarded several Cebu-based merchants. What amused me more was when I saw Cebuanos, young and old, installing Paytaca and trying to use it through our vending machine," he said.
After their launching in cities of Tacloban, Ormoc, and Cebu, Paytaca also aims to capture the market in Metro Manila and abroad, specially in countries in South America and Africa.
Almadro earlier said that they aim to be a payment option for utilities, banking transactions, and then large-scale businesses like commercial malls and convenience stores.
As the 2021 champion for the Philippines Start Up Challenge in the region, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Eastern Visayas lauded Paytaca "for its commitment to harnessing technology to create an ecosystem that empowers businesses and individuals alike."
In 2023, Paytaca bagged the Innovation Champion and Outstanding Trailblazer Award at the 1st Leyte GULF Business Awards by the Tacloban-Leyte chapter of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) at the Oriental Hotel and Resort in Palo, Leyte. (By Ronald Reyes)
Photo by Sunstar/File