One of the three bitcoin-related startups accepted into the Barclays and Techstars Fintech Accelerator Program in London, was Swedish-based Safello. Speaking with Finance Magnates in March, CEO and co-Founder Frank Schuil explained that part of his firm’s development of an EU-based Bitcoin exchange has been the forming of financial relationships with traditional banks.
The goal of working with banks to broaden the appeal of bitcoins and make it easier for customers to purchase them, is continuing for Safello. Presenting today at the Barclays Techstars demo day, Safello announced that it has created a Proof of Concept (PoC) partnership with Barclays. Details of the partnership came as Schuil opened up his remarks to the audience by stating, “Who said bitcoins and bankers can’t be friends?"
According to Schuil, Safello and Barclays will be working together on creating a new payment platform that will support bitcoins. The collaboration begins with a PoC trial to allow for donations to be sent to charities using bitcoins.
Since going live with the details of the PoC, demo day attendees have been providing positive feedback of the partnership, being impressed with both Safello’s presentation and the initiative being taken by Barclays to work with a bitcoin startup.
Nice! @sytaylor and @FrankSchuil killing it Awesome design from @SafelloAB congrats on the partnership with @Barclays pic.twitter.com/RIheXj9FAi
— Nic Cary (@niccary) June 22, 2015Barclays has signed a proof of concept with bitcoin Payments platform @SafelloAB (a year ago bank execs panicked when u mentioned the Bword)
— Anna Irrera (@annairrera) June 22, 2015Frank, CEO of @SafelloAB, has made me want to get some Bitcoin. An incredible product! #BarclaysAccel
— Shane Wickramasuriya (@IronLantern) June 22, 2015For Schuil, the announcement comes as the firm has been growing its user base since launching its bitcoin exchange. According to Safello, the firm has processed over $6 million in transactions and has 20,000 registered users.
