There’s a new Android application called Shake that enables users to tap-and-pay for items with Bitcoin and NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. On March 19th Shakepay.co introduced its service by saying “Bonjour” to the world.
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Shake: The New Tap-and-Pay NFC Bitcoin App
Shake will offer some unique features for cryptocurrency users and their smartphones. The platform will make it possible for people to use tap-and-pay with Bitcoin at any store accepting NFC technology. Additionally, the wallet can be filled with the digital currency and users will be given a virtual Visa to view their transactions online as well. Shake pay is not currently available to the public yet but is taking requests to test the application with early access.
The Shake blog post stated:
We’re very excited to introduce the first version of Shake, one that we’re dubbing Shake Alpha.—The Shake app allows anyone with an Android phone equipped with NFC to tap & pay for purchases at any VISA-accepting contactless terminal.
The author of the Shake blog post says that in mid-April the team will be producing an iOS version of the product. The initial sign up for the application costs nothing with everyday transactions at 1% for local Bitcoin to fiat exchange and 3% for foreign transactions.
Shake uses Bitpay’s Bid Rate for current exchange rates used on the platform. Shakepay was founded by Jean Amiouny and Roy Breidi, who wanted to make an easier way to allow people to pay with Bitcoin using their phones. The startup says the virtual cards can be used with 80 currencies and with 35 million of the worldwide merchants accepting Visa.
Shake does have competition in the tap-and-pay market with Plutus, which was introduced in November of 2015. Plutus also allows contactless NFC payments with its application but also uses Ethereum smart contracts within the platform. The Plutus service is also under development and is not yet released to the public. With Shake pay coming to the market in the future there will be two mobile applications offering Bitcoiners a chance to spend the digital currency with more merchants.
The Shake team says on the company website that they are “security freaks” and when stores or online services are breached users just issue a new virtual card have no need to worry.
Shake claims it has given the cryptocurrency community a solution for using Bitcoin with POS terminals worldwide. The question is how many competitors will be joining the contactless NFC environment and will there be room for everyone? Shake seems to think so and is joining its competitor Plutus within this new market space.
What do you think about the Shake Pay application? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Pixbay and the Shake blog
