Digibyte Raises $250k to Develop Altcoin for Retail Payments

The development team behind the digibyte cryptocurrency project has received $250,000 in private investment and inked a new strategic partnership with Hong Kong-based web developer Tofugear.

The funds will be used by the digibyte developers as part of a push to upgrade the core functionality of the project's code and develop new services on top of its infrastructure. The announcement coincides with the launch of two digibyte-focused startups: DigiPay LLC in California and DigiTrade International Limited Hong Kong.

Digibyte's developers said the Tofugear partnership will provide additional logistical and operational support as the group expands what they call the Digibyte Ecosystem. Central to this goal, the team wrote, is providing payment mechanisms that shift away from legacy solutions and move toward modern, more secure tools like mobile devices.

In its announcement to its community, the digibyte developers said that they plan to build on previous experiments using digital currency, explaining:

Digibyte founder and DigiPay president Jared Tate told CoinDesk that through the partnership with Tofugear, the digibyte team now has greater freedom to push next-generation services while still building on the project’s central planks.

The $250,000 raised represents one of the most high-profile altcoin funding announcements to date. Several altcoin projects have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars during initial coin offerings, and last month, micropayments startup Dogetipbot raised nearly $500,000 in new capital.

Digibyte, an altcoin founded earlier this year that enables multi-algorithm mining, is hoping to position itself as a next-generation payment mechanism as well as a currency that can catch on with global users.

In its letter, the development team outlined both its past achievements and future ambitions, which includes utilizing digibyte as a means of social expression.

The letter explained:

Through DigiPay, the startup venture focused on building out the digibyte ecosystem, the developers hope to push their solutions to a wider business audience.

A Hong Kong-based web developer, Tofugear brings experience building retail-focused platforms and solutions to the digibyte team's payments work. According to Tofugear’s website, the company, founded in 2010, works primarily on retail and product-oriented projects.

The team noted in a statement that the partnership will be a long-term one, explaining:

Tofugear added that by combining their efforts, it hopes to produce new solutions using the technology underlying decentralized digital currency.

"At the edge of the digital currency frontier, the digibyte and Tofugear team synergies offer real opportunities where digital currency is primed for entrance," the Hong Kong-based company said.

Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoin Talk