July 30th, 2018 at 7:32 pm UTC · 3 min read
This month in 2011 saw the release of bitpay.com and the first merchant processor for Bitcoin. BitPay wanted to make it easy for businesses to accept bitcoin payments and over seven years grew to the largest bitcoin payment processor in the world, serving industry-leading merchants on six continents supporting hundreds of thousands of bitcoin users.
Bitcoin usage increased exponentially because it disrupted traditional financial systems by making it as easy to send money as sending an email. The ability to accept cryptocurrency expands a merchant’s sales opportunity into international markets where accepting credit cards is not practical while reducing high fees and increasing payment transparency and efficiency.
Credit card chargebacks associated with traditional credit card purchases cost merchants almost $19 billion in 2017. In 2018, BitPay launched its cross-border payment solution which helps businesses pay or receive international payments faster and more economically.
Stephen Pair, co-founder and CEO of BitPay, said:
“We saw the potential for bitcoin to revolutionize the financial industry, making payments faster, more secure, and less expensive on a global scale. Cryptocurrency is valuable because it is used to trade for goods and services on a global basis without the risk of fraud or identity theft. Using this success as a basis we built several contributions to the Bitcoin ecosystem mostly recently with our cross-border payment solution.”
The future for cryptocurrency is bright and continue to be on the forefront of cryptocurrency technology, creating tools and services to extend adoption for everyone to use cryptocurrency in innovative new ways.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world have signed up with BitPay to accept bitcoin payments, including popular brands like Microsoft, Newegg, Namecheap, Gyft, Takeaway, and Virgin Galactic. BitPay works with over 30 e-commerce and point of sale integrators to promote the use and acceptance of bitcoin.
The BitPay Wallet consumer adoption is growing with a monthly average of more than $3 billion in transactions. BitPay achieved record growth in 2017, increasing revenues by nearly 700%, and remains profitable in 2018.
Founded in 2011, BitPay is the pioneer and the most experienced company in bitcoin and blockchain payments. Its suite of products enables businesses to send and receive cross border payments, also enabling consumers to manage digital assets with the BitPay Wallet and turn digital assets into dollars with the BitPay Prepaid Visa Card.
The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America and has raised over $70 million from leading investors including Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Aquiline Technology Growth.
The BitPay Visa Prepaid Card is issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa, U.S.A. Inc. “Metropolitan” and “Metropolitan Commercial Bank” are registered trademarks of Metropolitan Commercial Bank © 2014. Use of the Card is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable Cardholder Agreement and fee schedule, if any.