OPEN Platform - "Stripe for Cryptocurrencies"

In my previous article, I introduced a blockchain based, decentralized payment infrastructure for application developers known as OPEN Platform. The OPEN team, through their website, have hinted that they have taken inspiration from the incredibly simple yet powerful payment solution called Stripe. So, I thought I would have a look at these two in detail and see how the OPEN platform fairs up against Stripe.

Wikipedia describes Stripe as a Payment platform that provides the technical, fraud prevention, and banking infrastructure required to operate online payment systems. The US-based Stripe company was founded in 2011 and has gone on to become one of the most successful payment infrastructures providers in the world. What makes Stripe so popular? Simplicity and Accessibility. Stripe provides extremely simple methods to integrate its platform for developers. The payment solution follows a modular architecture, meaning developers using it in their apps need not worry about the complex workflows outside the application layer. Nextly, Stripe integration solutions are available for almost every platform and language - Web, Mobile (iOS, Android, Windows). To top everything off, they also have an articulate project documentation and excellent developer communication/support.

_{Stripe Payment Example Android}

Stripe allows developers to accept mobile payments and manage customer information through their API and SDKs. Their SDKs make it extremely simple to add visually simple and appealing payment interfaces where users can add their payment methods such as Credit, Debit Cards, Android & Apple Pay. Besides, Stripe also allows developers to manage subscriptions and store customer information. Flexible Subscription management includes abilities to use Trial Periods, apply Discounts, Applying Taxes etc. All of this stuff this extremely well-documented. However, it should be noted that all of Stripe's efforts are built around traditional FIAT based payment systems involving banks & others. And since January 2018, Stripe has dropped support for the only crypto payment method it used to have.

The folks building the OPEN Platform intends to have all the noteworthy features of Stripe in a decentralized environment where instead of FIAT currencies, payments can be made through cryptocurrencies. This simple "plug and play" solution will be facilitated by the OPEN API that enables developers to accept and process payments on blockchains. The payment infrastructure can potentially power Enterprise, Gaming and SaaS applications. Just like how Stripe makes it extremely simple for developers to store Customer information and manage subscriptions, the OPEN platform will also provide easy means for developers to track, verify and authorize users who have made purchases in their application. And they can do all this without familiarizing themselves with the complex workflow under the hood.

The novel smart contract based "SCAFFOLD protocol" will support multiple cryptocurrency types and allow for the storage of all app-specific information, like the pricing scheme. The OPEN STATE, on the other hand, will be used to track, verify and authorize users. Further, by reserving a large pool of native OPEN tokens for developers, the OPEN team envisages to onboard aspiring developers, incentivize them and also provide them with great customer support and documentation.

In summary, I wouldn't be surprised if OPEN becomes the "Stripe for Cryptocurrencies" offering a simple, developer friendly, "plug and play", cryptocurrency based payment solution in the future.