Principles

Currencies vs Payment Systems

People often confuse between currency and payment system. Currency is Money. Payment System is a mechanism that allows currency to change the owner (transacting).

US dollar is currency. Euro is currency. US dollar bills and coins (cash, banknotes) are a payment system that enables face to face transactions. Visa and Mastercard are payment systems that enable non-cash, electronic transactions. PayPal is a payment system that allows to safely transact online.

Bitcoin is native online currency (cryptocurrency, or simply crypto), with basic “built-in” payment system that allows to process Bitcoin transactions online. There are many other crypto in existence.

The world doesn’t need another currency, but it needs a permissionless, secure, private, fast, and convenient payment system that would be able to process payments and transfers both online and in brick-and-mortar stores, in various currencies and cryptocurrencies. Only decentralized payment system can provide absolute privacy, highest security, and undiscriminating access to buyers and merchants. Not to mention the fact that only decentralized payment system can operate decentralized cryptocurrencies without reducing the value of their fundamental properties.

Traditional Payment Systems vs Cryptocurrencies

Traditional payment systems operate with existing, established currencies, which allows them to focus solely on payment processing domain. Crypto payment systems, in addition to payment systems, have a burden of taking care of their own underlying currency - something that is usually being taken care of by national governments, banks, or huge communities such as Bitcoins and financial corporations. As a result - inconvenient, slow, insecure payment system, or illiquid, volatile currency, or both.

Lyra vs Traditional and Crypto Payment Systems

Unlike other crypto, Lyra is pure payment system which does not have any “built-in” underlying currency or token. Special Lyra Starter Token is created and used to fund the initial development and kick-off the delegated proof-of-stake voting and authorization mechanisms on the initial stage of the project.

Like traditional payment systems, Lyra operates with existing currencies, so it is completely free of monetary policies, volatility, and other concerns not related to payment processing domain. As a result, Lyra has characteristics that are difficult or impossible to achieve using mono-cryptocurrency systems: high speed, virtually unlimited scalability, and versatility of payment methods. What differentiates it from traditional payment systems, however, is decentralization, which opens a pandora box of priceless features: undiscriminated permissionless access, security, privacy, low fees, open participating economy, and more.