On the 16th (local time), I paid for 64 Hong Kong dollars (HKD) worth of maramat konjac snacks at a supermarket in Hong Kong. The prepaid amount charged to RedotPay was about 25 USD, including a 5 USD gift received upon signing up and 20 Tether (USDT) deposited through Binance. The payment was completed in just one second with a 'ding' sound, and the remaining balance in RedotPay was 16.6675 USDT. Despite the mix of two currencies, 5 USD and 3.3325 USDT were automatically combined for the payment.
Based in Hong Kong, RedotPay is a blockchain fintech corporation established in 2023. RedotPay supports payments through the Visa payment network. Payments can be made using RedotPay at any merchant that accepts Visa cards. I used RedotPay at various local places such as restaurants and convenience stores in Hong Kong, with no issues of payment rejection or skeptical shop owners. As the variety and activation of stablecoins increase, cryptocurrency payment processing is becoming more common in places like Hong Kong and Singapore. The two most widely used stablecoins, Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), maintain a value of 1 USD per coin.
◇ Completion of card issuance within 10 minutes after certification
The RedotPay team I met in Hong Kong was led by a founder from the financial sector. They explained they are particularly striving to build a cryptocurrency payment system that resembles existing payment systems. Indeed, the registration process was as simple as the payment process. After installing the RedotPay application (app) and registering, you must take a photo of your ID, driver's license, or passport for identity verification (KYC), which is completed within 5 minutes. Though RedotPay introduced that this could take up to 20 minutes, in reality, it took less than 3 minutes to complete the certification.
From this point, prepaid loading becomes possible. The available prepaid options are ▲USDT ▲USDC ▲Bitcoin (BTC) ▲Ethereum (ETH) ▲Solana (SOL) ▲Sonic (S) ▲Dollar (USD), a total of seven types. You can select the cryptocurrency or dollar you wish to load. I loaded the most commonly used USDT into my Binance account. The remittance time is also approximately around 1 minute. I attempted to transfer from domestic exchange platforms like Upbit or Bithumb to my RedotPay account, but due to domestic regulations, the exact wallet address management entity was not confirmed, making withdrawal impossible.
Once the certification is complete, you can obtain a card for payments. There are two types of cards: virtual (10 USD) and physical (100 USD). According to the RedotPay team, the issuance of physical cards is currently suspended in Korea due to regulatory issues. The virtual card is issued immediately after paying 10 USD, and can be instantly linked to Apple Pay or Google Pay for use. For those who have experience in cryptocurrency trading, the entire process from installation to remittance and card issuance can be completed within 10 minutes.
◇ Issued without credit check, 'exchange' culture might disappear
The RedotPay team explained that they started RedotPay to support payment markets in financially excluded countries. While there is an identity verification process, payments can be made immediately without a credit check as long as you have an email account and identity verification methods. Payments can be made at any Visa merchant by charging only cryptocurrency in a debit card format. The fact that there is no risk of loss because the virtual card is the main payment method is an advantage.
Some may question whether it is any different from the various travel cards available in the banking sector nowadays. Travel cards still go through the currency exchange process. However, with the emergence of stablecoins based on national currencies, the function of 'currency exchange' may become unnecessary. For instance, if you hold stablecoins based on the Korean won, the British pound, and the Turkish lira in your RedotPay wallet, it means the appropriate currency will be automatically used for payment at the time of check out.
However, it is still in the early stages of establishing itself as a new payment method. If there is no understanding of blockchain or cryptocurrency, the barrier already begins at the stage of signing up for a global exchange. Moreover, although the areas where RedotPay can be used vary from domestic to overseas, the RedotPay team is not actively marketing. This is due to the lack of clear regulations regarding cryptocurrency in countries such as Korea.
An industry insider commented, “While it is still in the early stage, cryptocurrency payment providers are rapidly increasing, and as the usage of dollar-based stablecoins rises, the currency sovereignty will be undermined,” adding, “It is urgent to clearly establish regulations to ensure domestic payment service providers and cryptocurrency businesses can respond to this.”