The social payment app Bottlepay (born Bottle Pay) aims to relaunch for the next few weeks, after being closed due to regulations in December 2019.
A revolutionary app in Europe
After restructuring your bitcoin wallet (find here quotation) to adapt it to the European Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5), the British startup now offers an exchange portfolio with social features on Reddit, Twitter and Discord. Bottlepay co-founder Pete Cheyne said there are over 1.000 people on the waiting list for the beta release in August.
"Since we are making the switch to a native app product, there is much more we can do," said Cheyne. "We are also adding the ability to have payments scheduled to buy more bitcoins." Square's Cash app and others already offer this feature in the U.S., but in Europe, where Bottlepay focuses, there will also be an additional feature that will forward bitcoins to another wallet address if the user so wishes.
This means that users can choose custody services or not. "Lightning works in the background, without users having to manage channels," added Cheyne. “There will be a small commission for the exchange between fiat and bitcoin and vice versa. ... There will also be a split by levels because people are interested in our app for different use cases. "
"We are still extremely focused on Lightning"
Bottlepay CEO Mark Webster said his team of 11 employees have "constant funding" from their angel investors, who had traded in shares for $ 2019 million in 2. Webster added that the company will not support tokens in the near future, although it may one day.
This year it's all about bitcoin. "I think Lightning is at the center of the strategy," said Webster, referring to the bitcoin scalability solution. "With increasing consumer demand, we can open up more channels." As part of this plan, Webster said he is hiring new staff and not tightening his belt for the recession, hoping to grow the team to around 35 people by 2021.
Cheyne said that many of the hires so far have been aimed at the marketing and legal teams, who have carried out a major restructuring of the product. The additional step that customers must meet requirements may also create an opportunity for portfolio features.
"You can store a fiat balance," said Cheyne. "Scan a Lightning code and pay it with pounds or euros." For now, Bottlepay will only open the beta launch to users in Europe. Webster said the company hopes to open the beta to Americans and reactivate Telegram's options by 2021.
In this case, it could be one of the few Fiat compatible portfolios that uses Lightning without problems for the user. In a sense, Bottlepay might be comparable to the Lightning-based American consumer app Strike. "This time, it was invaluable for the company to perfect its strategy," said Webster. "We are still extremely focused on Lightning."
