Auras Pay, the First non-custodial Crypto Payment Gateway out of the UAE launches to disrupt the disruptors

As crypto payments grow globally as well as within the GCC and MENA region, and more specifically in the UAE, where AED stablecoin payments are starting to take form. The need for merchants and banks to start accepting digital asset payments in a streamlined, secure and easy way becomes a necessity and not a privilege. Auras Pay, a non-custodial crypto payment gateway, developed by Auras Technologies registered in DMCC UAE, been introduced to disrupt the current crypto payment gateway providers by offering its services based on a subscription fee rather than charging commissions or transactions fees.

Already the UAE is considered a global leader in crypto and digital asset adoption with 30% of its population owning digital currencies. In terms of crypto payments stablecoins dominate. Globally, according to PWC global digital payments are expected to reach $52 billion by 2026 with crypto payments expecting to grow by %4.6 annually.

Before delving into the disruptive offering, first to understand what crypto payment gateways do. In short, they enable businesses to accept digital or crypto assets at checkout. Usually, crypto payment gateways offer invoice generation, payment confirmation, and optional conversion to fiat or stablecoins, as well as settlement to a bank or wallet, with robust reporting. Yet all of them utilize a transaction price structure, asking for fees which are usually calculated as percentage of charges. Transaction fees typically range from 0.2% to 2.9% + $0.10–$0.30 per transaction.

Mazen Al Shareef, Managing Director and CEO of Auras Technologies, spoke to Lara on the Block to explain how game changing Auras Pay will be in the crypto payment gateway ecosystem. Al Shareef explains that Auras Pay, built on the Solana Blockchain, is a technological infrastructure for blockchain based payments and acts as a payment gateway without handling client and customer transactions directly, and without asking for transaction fees.

Businesses, banks, merchants, freelancers, and online e-commerce owners can receive BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC directly to their wallets using a simple on-chain checkout. Al Shareef explains, “There are no middlemen, we don’t use smart contract, all transaction are recorded on the blockchain, while Auras Pay ensures that payments are recorded in the form of sales invoices, making it easy for merchants not only to accept payments but register them into the bookkeeping and accounting systems.”

He adds, “We have developed a non-custodial crypto payment gateway with no intermediaries, no delays and no need for a technical setup because we use APIs. Merchants simply log into the dashboard or POS system, select wallet, create payment links via QR Code, customers pay, and funds go directly to merchant’s or Businesses’ wallet. We never hold your money, ensuring complete security and control. We never touch your funds, zero custody risk, zero frozen accounts, and zero payment processor interference.”

Al Shareef adds, “First merchants, businesses benefit because they are able to track their transactions, manage their invoices and accounting and booking keeping simply by integrating their existing systems through our API.”

Recently Auras Pay has integrated with POS Terminals offering either AED or USD, or stablecoins. It also works with Android devices or any hardware already in use by businesses. He states, “We are bringing the digital economy to the brick-and-mortar stores, and Web3 online e-commerce websites who are using WOO Commerce, or WordPress to the Web3 world with a simple plugin installation.”

Additionally, freelancers, remote workers can also utilize it, by generating a payment link. Al Shareef notes, “Using our payment gateway ensures that the data of the transaction and why it was made is saved and can be printed. Having a sales invoice on the dashboard and with the client is essential for bookkeeping, tax filing, tax claiming and legal proof of sale. More importantly our invoices are being developed to meet UAE’s new digital invoice framework which will be implemented in 2027.”

Digital invoicing can be used not only for UAE legislation but also for global and applicable across multiple countries.

Banks can use Auras Pay for their clients

As Banks within the UAE start to issue or utilize AED stablecoins, Auras Pay can be used to list these stablecoins, or fiat currencies and Bank clients such as merchants can use it. Al Shareef explains, “If for example there is a bank offering a new service, allowing clients to pay in Bitcoin or another digital asset, all they need to do is integrate API and all the transactions will go to bank directly. UAE banks will be able to offer more payment options, they can add Auras Pay like they add Stripe, Google Pay, PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and others.”

The Biggest differentiating factor is in fee structure

Auras Pay is not only offering a non-custodial payment gateway built on Blockchain, but it is not charging per transaction fee like other payment gateways do but rather offering a simple subscription fee based on the number of transactions merchants believe they will need per month. Merchants can choose a starter subscription plan that offers 35 transactions per month for just $15. Al Shareef states, “It doesn’t matter to us how big the transaction is because we are not taking a fee based on the percentage of the transaction but rather a subscription fee. Whether a merchant made $2 million USDT on a transaction of $10, we just take the subscription. This helps merchants save money and increase their revenues.

The Future of digital payments in MENA and Globally

Al Shareef explains that Auras Pay has already started onboarding merchants. “30% of our clients today are from the UAE, and the rest are from USA and UK with USA leading.” Al Shareef expects that in the next five years there will be a huge shift towards utilizing digital assets for payments among banks, governments, and businesses. He states, “Digital asset payments are cheaper, faster and will be a solution for the entire financial system.”

The Auras Pay subscription fee system will also be especially useful when Machine to Machine, AI payments in DEPIN and IOT ecosystems arrive, where there are hundreds of thousands of transactions happening per minute.