Coinify Acquires Competing Bitcoin Payments Processor Coinzone

Coinify has acquired competing Europe-based payments processor Coinzone as part of an undisclosed deal announced today.

With the move, the Denmark-based company has expanded its merchant base to an estimated 10,000 actively monthly customers, up from 8,000 before the acquisition. Further, it has grown its employee base to 17, with the addition of Coinzone's sales staff.

Coinify

CFO Christian Visti Larsen indicated that the purchase comes as his firm is seeking to shift its focus from acquiring individual merchants to payment service providers (PSPs). He explained Coinify is seeking to replicate a model invoked by its US peer Bitnet, in that it will seek to partner with larger entities that provide payments support to thousands of online merchants.

Visti Larsen told CoinDesk:

"More merchants today do business with a PSP and would rather have multiple payment options through a PSP. Most of Coinzone's partners were asking for this service, so it seemed like a perfect match."

Visti Larsen also commented on the success of this model in the US, where bitcoin payments are already supported by PSPs such as CardinalCommerce, PayPal and Stripe. He suggested it was time for the European market to "step up" its performance and said Coinify is working on as many as eight deals with European PSPs.

Outgoing Coinzone CEO Manuel Heilmann told CoinDesk his firm's existing management staff will remain at the company for a "transition period", though no executives will join Coinify in full-time roles. Heilmann said he is seeking to return to the e-commerce industry, but will continue to advocate for the technology.

Founded in 2014, Coinzone is an Amsterdam-based payment processor that had garnered most of its traction in eastern Europe.

Acquisition image via Shutterstock