Gone are the days when you ask for someone’s 12-digit bank number so you can make a $4 transaction for your shared meal. It is all made simpler, more convenient and more efficient for crypto with Coinhako’s new feature with Paynow.

For Singaporeans, you should be hyper-familiar with this term. It has become essential in our daily transactions with the merchants at the coffee shop/restaurants, where paying and receiving in Singapore Dollars are made instantaneously.

Now what CoinHako, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, is doing is a game changer for crypto in Singapore. By using Paynow, something familiar to most Singaporeans, they are now enabling the on-ramping of Singapore dollars for individuals to fund their crypto purchases.

Crypto funding made in 60 seconds

I would say, at least within Singapore, this is a win.

One of the biggest reasons that steer new adopters away is the complexity of steps needed to be taken to buy a Bitcoin. While centralized entities like Binance and Kraken have made it a little less difficult for users, on-ramping has always been one of the biggest hindrances in buying your first crypto.

PayNow provides peer-to-peer funds transfer services for retail and corporate customers of participating banks and participating Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) in Singapore.

Users typically use PayNow to:

  • Make purchases and bills
  • Transfers funds to others

Now, Coinhako users can also fund their crypto trades with PayNow as a payment option, making transactions less than a 60-second is, I would say, once more, a win.

Find a list of cryptocurrencies CoinHako supports for buying, selling and swapping on their website here.

Licensed under MAS

In May 2022, Coinhako received a MAS licence to offer crypto payment services.

The platform has been granted approval for a major payment institution (MPI) licence, allowing it to provide DPT services under the Payment Services Act (PSA). It was previously granted a temporary exemption from holding a licence under the PSA.

How to paynow your funds in 4 steps

1. On the Superwallet page, select the Deposit button under SGD.

2. Select PayNow as your preferred payment method

3. On this page, you will see your PayNow deposit details:

  • UEN: 201332728RSGD
  • Unique deposit code: Unique to each user and transfer method
  • PayNow QR: Contains the UEN and deposit code unique to each user

4. Copy and input the UEN and Deposit Code into your banking app to deposit. Alternatively, you can save the QR code as an image and upload it to your banking app.

Closing thoughts

While onboarding crypto is now made easy, lest we forget the dark days centralized actors had on us. Even when centralized entities are now more transparent than ever, the burn from the events in 2022 will forever be etched in every crypto investor’s mind. A tall and fragile task CEX needs to hurdle over.

Decentralized exchanges now pose great alternatives but fall short regarding the ease of onboarding and sometimes face issues with liquidity and availability of coins.

The greatest win in crypto will come when the issue of bad UX is solved. Till that is achieved, the consequences are users losing large amounts of money, sub-optimal user adoption, and woefully insufficient levels of security will certainly exist.

I still believe centralized entities have an essential role, and the coexisting between decentralized counterparts will be the key success factor in innovation, better products, fluid UI/UX and mass adoption.

Also, read what I found when I Looked Into The Historical Cycles Of Crypto

[Editor’s Note: This article does not represent financial advice. Please do your own research before investing.]

Featured Image Credit: Chain Debrief