BitPay adds support for Ethereum

Global payments provider BitPay announced today that businesses can use its services to accept Ethereum. This adds to BitPay’s current offerings of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, as well as dollar-pegged stablecoins USDC, Gemini Dollar, and Paxos Standard token. 

Users now can store and use Ethereum in a BitPay wallet, and those who have BitPay pre-paid Visa debit cards can top up their balances.

"It is exciting to see BitPay leading the way in integrating Ethereum into global payment systems,” Vitalik Buterin, founder and creator of Ethereum, said in a press release. “This truly opens up a new world of possibilities for the Ethereum ecosystem,” he continued. 

BitPay is one of the world’s largest crypto payment providers. Since its founding in 2011, it has raised over $70 million in funding and processed over $2.8 billion to date, most of which in Bitcoin. Last month, BitPay announced it had integrated its services into Blockchain, a Bitcoin wallet and block explorer provider that has over 41 million users.

BitPay’s USP is that customers can buy things in Bitcoin, but have transactions settled in the business’s currency of choice. The Hong Kong Free Press accepted crypto payments in BitPay to help fund its impartial media coverage of the protests this summer. 

Coincidentally, Tom Grundy, the founder and editor-in-chief of HKFP told users last week to “never use BitPay” after he complained that donated funds were suspended. 

“Truly the worst experience you can imagine — poor reputation, abysmal communication, horrible customer service, very high fees. Almost any alternative will be better,” he tweeted.