Jon Moore, VP of Nationwide Merchant Solutions, discovered a way to integrate Litecoin and Bitcoin support buttons as a payment means across more than a million Clover point-of-sale (POS) systems deployed. However, the indirect support allowing merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments was not endorsed or recommended by the Clover team and is not featured in their app marketplace as it goes against their policies, according to them.
Moore, who is a Litecoin supporter, posted a video on Twitter showing a Clover POS hardware product with an installed option to accept cryptocurrency payments. Naming himself “Jonny Litecoin,” he explained that he came up to figure out new features for the Clover POS system for integrating Litecoin and Bitcoin as a payment option. Under the register menu, Moore started by selecting a product for sale and chose to pay for the order.
The Clover system displayed what looks like three payment options: credit/debit, cash, and other. Under “Other,” Litecoin and Bitcoin buttons were listed as means of payment next to “Check” and “Mail/Phone Order.” An old receipt sent by email by Moore showed an order ID and the Litecoin wallet address he claimed he used to settle it.
Moore added that the key to boosting adoption is to work on existing systems that merchants currently use. Another feature shown in the video was that Litecoin transactions were recognized by the Clover station and listed as settled via Litecoin payments. This would make it easier for merchants to keep track of money flows and record orders settled in cryptocurrencies. Moore concluded his video by inviting Internauts and cryptocurrency enthusiasts to encourage merchants to install the features saying:
“We can turn this on in any Clover right now in the whole country.”
What Is Clover
Clover is a cloud-based Android point-of-sale platform that offers a suite of products for merchants and small to medium-sized businesses (SMB). The Clover stations process payments and returns, monitor sales and revenues and support all kinds of payments from standard card swipes to contactless NFC payments and paper check scans.
One of the most purchased Clover hardware products is the Clover Mini, which features a built-in receipt printer and is able to be deployed as a stand-alone terminal replacement. The latter allows merchants to install apps from the Clover App Marketplace, which offers a broad range of merchant-focused applications from monitoring key business metrics to HR management software for SMB merchants.
According to CrunchBase, Clover was acquired by First Data Corporation back in 2012 and began shipping Clover stations one year later. The Clover blog claims that the Clover millionth device was shipped to a German merchant in September, only four months after launching in Germany and Austria.
A medium post published by Litecoin.com on Sept. 19 reports that they reached out to Moore in order to give more information on how to implement the Bitcoin and Litecoin payment buttons into the Clover POS. Moore explained that adding payment buttons is an existing functionality made available by Clover across all its hardware products sold to merchants. Litecoin and Bitcoin can thus be set up and selected as payment options during normal sales in Clover.
He added that this option is particularly interesting in the case of businesses that get orders over the phone. Merchants are able to email a receipt to the customer, including a Litecoin QR code and the LTC wallet address to pay to, along with the instruction on how to proceed with the payment using Litecoin.
Clover’s Response
A spokesperson from Clover seemingly reached out to Litecoin.com clarifying about cryptocurrency payment apps within its App Marketplace. He clarified that cryptocurrency support is not recommended or endorsed by the company. A Clover representative said:
“It is against Clover App market policies to develop apps that accept cryptocurrency payments e.g. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin etc. Therefore no apps that integrate crypto payments with Clover are accepted into the app market.”
