Bitcoin Payment Gateway GoCoin Raises $550k

Competition may be starting to heat up in the bitcoin economy.

GoCoin, which touts itself as the first true payment processor for Bitcoin, has announced funding from its seed round at over $550,000.

Some notable investors include Owen Van Natta, COO/CRO of Facebook and veteran Amazon Executive, along with Andrew Frame, who is the founder of VoIP service provider, Ooma.

According to GoCoin, it is currently in private beta, but the service will focus first on Asia and South American countries after launch. Traditionally, consumers in these regions experience difficulty in purchasing and accepting online payments for goods and services. The promise of bitcoin includes alleviating some of the friction that comes from making international payments.

The Singapore and United States based GoCoin will focus on providing bitcoin payment processing for e-commerce, digital content, and social gaming companies. For online merchants, GoCoin will integrate into sites and checkout as a payment gateway, similar to BitPay.

Steve Beauregard will serve as the CEO, and Brock Pierce, a video game industry veteran will serve as chairman of the board.

Like BitPay, there is a strong focus on enabling easy payments through simplistic integration, and according to Pierce, “GoCoin will help Bitcoin go far beyond merchant acceptance; it will simplify cross-border commercial transactions.”

It makes sense for GoCoin to initially focus on both the South American and Asian countries. Asia in particular has seen a rise in social gaming and bitcoin adoption. If they can capture the intersecting market by enabling gaming payments through bitcoin, GoCoin can carve out a niche for itself as a stepping-stone to capture merchants in the near future.