Coca-Cola Amatil Invests in Centrapay to Make Contactless Crypto Payments a Reality

International beverage giant Coca Cola Amatil has announced an expansion of its current partnership with New Zealand and Australia-based payment processor Centrapay, investing in the platform’s recent seed funding round.

Amatil X, Coca Cola’s corporate venture capital fund, announced a minority investment in Centrapay’s seed funding round on Thursday. The Centrapay platform, which currently provides services to companies that include KFC, Carlton Draught, and BP, secured an investment from Amatil X in order to fuel a new initiative that will expand the platform’s payment capacities. 

Coca-Cola Amatil launched a corporate partnership with Centrapay earlier this year that brought cryptocurrency payment options to thousands of vending machines around Australia and New Zealand. Centrapay’s new funding round and investment from Amatil X will see the platform expand into contactless fiat currency payments, gift cards, and vouchers. 

While Centrapay has not yet announced any plans to integrate cryptocurrency payments into the new contactless payment options under developments, the new services offered will allow Centrapay Wallet users to send fiat or any other supported payments in the same manner as a text message — potentially including cryptocurrency payments.

Centrapay Focuses on Pushing Digital Currency Adoption

Centrapay CEO Jerome Faury highlighted the importance of bringing new payment options to market, notably referencing “programmable” money — reflecting the functionality offered by smart contract enabled cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum:

“The global money supply is evolving rapidly with new economic models and the advent of smart, programmable money. The way we exchange value is set to change dramatically. There’s more change likely in the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the past 100.”

Faury also stressed the core focus of the Centrapay platform as a means to push adoption of digital currency, noting that Centrapay is focused on playing a “pioneering role in driving acceptance of digital assets with merchants.”