Everything to know about the new Flexa Payments platform
A deeper dive into the new Payment Links and Payments SDK tools now available for merchants in early access
Earlier today, Flexa introduced Flexa Payments, a new set of tools for merchants to simply and instantly accept over 99 different digital currencies from any app or wallet across twelve of the most popular blockchain networks. The Flexa Payments platform includes two products available now in early access—Payment Links and the Payments SDK—and will expand to include the upcoming Payments API for custom integrations later this year.
Since Flexa Payments will soon be rolling out across Flexa’s entire set of point-of-sale integration partners, we want to make sure that merchants are ready for all the new functionality that will become available. To that end, we’ve prepared a short set of answers to common questions about how Flexa Payments works and will become available around the globe:
How does the Flexa Payments experience work for my customers?
Flexa Payments aims to provide the simplest, most friendly interface for accepting payments from the wide variety of digital currency wallet apps and networks available today. To accomplish this objective, we’ve built a comprehensive library of diligently researched information about how each and every app best supports the different payment protocols for digital asset payments—including QR code payment requests, deep links, URL schemes, and more. Every time a customer chooses to make a payment with digital currencies, Flexa Payments takes into account that customer’s desired app or network, their payment context (e.g., in person, online, or inside of your mobile checkout app), and its own deep database of app information, and then intelligently surfaces the ideal payment request format on a network-by-network basis for a seamless transaction.
For example, if a customer chooses to pay with MetaMask on the web using their desktop or laptop computer, and the MetaMask browser extension is already installed, Flexa Payments will automatically open the MetaMask extension to complete payment. Alternatively, if the customer chooses to pay with the MetaMask mobile app (whether directly on their mobile device or through their laptop computer), Flexa Payments will either display a QR code payment request or present a button to open the MetaMask app with all payment details pre-populated, all dependent on customer context.
Which assets and networks are supported by Flexa Payments?
Flexa Payments includes support for native, on-chain payments using 99 different digital currencies across twelve of the most popular blockchain networks and scaling solutions. Supported networks currently include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Celo, Dogecoin, Ethereum, the Lightning Network, Litecoin, Polygon, Solana Pay, Tezos, and Zcash.
Flexa Payments also supports increased seamlessness, transparency, and security for payments made from Flexa-enabled apps, such as Gemini and Argent. When making a payment using a Flexa-enabled app, customers can check out in a single tap and easily review the merchant details for a transaction along with the exact value of funds being sent in the payment’s unit of account (e.g., USD).
In which countries can merchants sign up for Flexa Payments?
Flexa Payments is currently available in English and Español (América Latina) for merchants in the United States and El Salvador, with additional locales rolling out very soon. If you would like to see Flexa Payments enabled in your country or language, please let us know.
How do the new Flexa Capacity Transformers work?
Since 2019, Flexa has provided fraud-proof digital currency payments that authorize and settle instantly in any currency of choice—on both sides of a transaction. Flexa Capacity makes this possible through a decentralized network of smart contracts that are backed with Amp collateral from stakers from all over the world. Previously, stakers provided collateral to pools that created the network capacity for each Flexa-enabled app as well as a single Lightning Transformer that was launched to support payments in El Salvador in September 2021. With Flexa Payments, the set of Transformers available to stake has expanded dramatically, with each supported network now requiring its own Transformer (and corresponding collateral pool) in order to ensure fraud-proof and instant payments on each of twelve supported networks—regardless of block time, availability, or confirmation requirements.
When will Flexa add support for other networks?
Work to enable other layer 1 blockchain networks, sidechains, and layer 2 scaling solutions is already underway. Flexa Payments today offers compatibility with more blockchain networks than any other digital currency payments provider, and the Flexa team looks forward to enabling even broader compatibility with more popular networks in the coming months.
What will happen to Flexa’s Connect API?
Flexa Payments builds on the years of research and development that helped us bring Flexa network payments to market via the Flexa Connect platform of APIs, plug-ins, and apps. The Flexa Connect API will remain available to payment service providers who currently use it to enable instant flexcode payments on behalf of Flexa-accepting merchants in brick-and-mortar stores. For all other channels and payment contexts, the Flexa Payments platform is designed to support a seamless transition and offers expanded acceptance for all digital asset wallets on the market today.
The entire Flexa team is delighted at the early reactions to Flexa Payments and would like to thank all of our integration partners for helping to bring this new platform to life in stores and online.
Have a question we didn’t answer here? Ask @FlexaHQ on Twitter or join us on Discord! We look forward to making Flexa Payments available to merchants everywhere very soon.
