The Royal Canadian Mint is ending its experiment with digital payments, selling off its MintChip platform to Toronto-based financial startup nanoPay.
The government agency developed MintChip as a secure way to send and spend money online, launching the project in April 2012 and showing off its first implementation in 2014.
Consumers could use MintChip with a mobile device at a cash register or send money with a text message, email or potentially a social media message.
NanoPay says the platform is now live and processing transactions, and will launch commercially in the coming weeks.
The company said it is working to integrate MintChip with banks and retailers.
Companies including Apple and PayPal have launched their own digital payment systems in the years since MintChip was first announced, but the available options are fragmented between different devices, retailers and banks.
