Cointelegraph Team
Cointelegraph
The leading provider of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency payment services, BitPay, announced on Feb. 4 that the company will soon allow invoices to be paid from any Bitcoin wallet or exchange.
BitPay CEO Stephen Pair told Cointelegraph that the decision to enable merchant payments from any Bitcoin wallet was driven by merchant feedback, putting control back in the hands of over 30 thousand active merchants currently using BitPay:
BitPay’s customers want to support all the Bitcoin wallets, just like they want to support all cryptocurrencies for payments. The company has decided to re-enable support for all wallets, which is referred to as plain vanilla peer-to-peer transactions.
Pair mentioned that a phased rollout to support all Bitcoin wallets has already begun. Once the feature has been implemented, merchants will be able to decide which wallets they will accept payments from, while consumers would be able to use any wallet to make purchases from those merchants.
Pair also noted that merchants can take advantage of peer-to-peer transactions without any required technical development or implementation, explaining:
We are going to automate the whole process for merchants, since we already have experience doing this already. It’s very important for merchants to support all Bitcoin wallets, as this will greatly expand their potential to grow sales and acquire new customers.
What about BitPay’s BIP70 payment protocol?
The decision to restore service to all Bitcoin wallets comes after BitPay’s rocky path towards success.
When the price of Bitcoin was inching towards its all time high in 2017, Pair explained that BitPay was experiencing delays with almost 9% of customer payments. He noted that a number of customer support issues were being reported at this time, pushing the company to implement the payment protocol known as “BIP70.” He said:
At times, Bitcoin has been a victim of its own success. As adoption exploded in 2017 and 2018, network congestion and high transaction fees brought with them some tough decisions, like the one to implement Payment Protocol for all Bitcoin payments.
While BIP70 helped eliminate network congestion, it also limited users to certain Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ether (ETH) wallets. According to a 2018 Reddit post, BitPay users complained that payments could not be made using some of the most popular wallets like Coinbase and Bitcoin Wallet.
JSON protocol will stay
As BitPay begins to add support for all Bitcoin wallets, Pair mentioned that the platform will continue to use the JSON payment protocol, “as we have many wallets in the pipeline looking to support that.”
Pair explained that BitPay implemented its JSON payment protocol in February 2018 (in addition to BIP70) as a result of customer support issues. The JSON payment protocol helped reduce BitPay’s error rates to nearly zero percent at the time.
The dollar volume lost to cryptocurrency payment errors dropped dramatically from over 8% (in December 2017) to well under 1% of BitPay's total dollar volume processed.
A company blog post announcing the JSON payment protocol explained that the interface provides for direct communication between a wallet and BitPay's servers, noting:
If a wallet submits an incorrect payment to BitPay, BitPay's servers will reject the transaction. This prevents any transactions which will result in a failed payment from reaching the Bitcoin blockchain and costing users unnecessary miner fees. We expect that this change will allow us to reduce payment errors to zero.
As for wallets that conduct normal Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash transactions, Pair noted that BitPay expects to see fewer payment errors and exceptions moving forward:
Merchants have increased opportunities for sales from millions of global wallet holders that have not implemented the payment protocol and consumers have more places to make purchases. As a result, mainstream adoption for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is on the horizon.
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, Bitpanda deputy CEO: “Crypto needs Gary Gensler gone”
Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad is the deputy CEO at Bitpanda, a broker based in Europe with more than five million users. At the European Blockchain Convention held in Barcelona, the executive shared with FXStreet his views on the current state of the crypto industry and its regulation.
Bitcoin still consolidates despite positive spot ETFs demand
Bitcoin (BTC) trades slightly up, around $64,000 on Thursday, following a rejection from the upper consolidation level of $64,700 the previous day. BTC’s price has been consolidating between $62,000 and $64,700 for the past week.
Why is ONDO’s price outlook bullish?
DefiLlama data shows that Ondo TVL reached a new ATH of $613.75 million. Ondo’s Supply Distribution metric shows whale accumulation. On-chain data shows that ONDO’s daily trading volume is rising, and the supply of exchanges is decreasing.
Maker price eyes a rally on technicals and on-chain metrics
Maker trades above $1,500 on Thursday, suggesting a potential rally as technical indicators show bullish divergence. This positive outlook is reinforced by MKR’s Exchange Flow Balance, which shows a negative spike, indicating growing investor confidence in the platform.
Bitcoin: Fed-led rally could have legs towards $65,000
Bitcoin is poised for a second consecutive week of gains, supported by the recent 50-basis-point cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Bitcoin broke above several key technical resistances this week, signaling a rally continuation.
Five best Forex brokers in 2024
VERIFIED Choosing the best Forex broker in 2024 requires careful consideration of certain essential factors. With the wide array of options available, it is crucial to find a broker that aligns with your trading style, experience level, and financial goals.