BitPay Is PayPal For Bitcoin

BitPay is a processing system for Bitcoin and with $2 million in new investment, the intention is to provide a Bitcoin focused alternative to PayPal.

If you still haven’t worked out what Bitcoin is all about, see my “Bitcoin Explained” piece here on The Inquisitr.

Initially BitPay plained to bootstrap its growth, but when the Founder Fund expressed interest in investing in the startup, BitPay CEO Tony Gallippi changed the plan.

“There’s no single investment firm we would rather have on our team right now than Founders Fund,” Gallippi said.

Founder Fund is a group of investors largely made up of founders and executives from PayPal who have been impressed with BitPay’s rapid growth.

BitPay says they processed $5.2 million in Bitcoin transitions for merchants in March. They’re adding hundreds of new customers a day by focusing on processing Bitcoin payments for merchants who want to accept the new currency for legitimate business transactions.

“Merchants are clearly appreciating the superior performance of our platform compared to all others in the marketplace,” said Gallippi.

The primary advantage BitPay provides for merchants is lower payment processing fees leading to higher profits, especially when selling expensive services or products. BitPay’s processing fee is 0.99% including the guaranteed exchange rate.

BitPay distributes payments to merchants once a day to clear out balances with BitPay to protect against hacking, one of Bitcoin’s weaknesses. Merchants can choose to have payments automatically deposited to a bank account at current exchange rates or to a Bitcoin wallet.

For merchants who are interested in accepting Bitcoin payments without the hassle of involving themselves with currency exchange, BitPay is a solution worth exploring.

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