On Tuesday, the crypto payments processor based in Atlanta, Bitpay, revealed its collaboration with Moonpay. The partnership, Bitpay emphasized, enables users to sell bitcoin and other crypto assets directly through the Bitpay app. Bitpay Now Allows Direct Sales via Moonpay Partnership Users of the Bitpay app can now sell their crypto assets through Bitpay’s integration […]
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Bitcoin.com Announces Integration of VERSE Token With BitPay for Expanded Payment Options
Bitcoin.com, a leading figure in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, is thrilled to announce a significant enhancement to the utility of its ecosystem token, VERSE. In a groundbreaking collaboration, VERSE has now been integrated with BitPay, the world’s largest provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services. This integration heralds a new era of […]
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Bitpay Ceases Prepaid Mastercard Program, Promises Enhanced Card Service in the Future
Cryptocurrency proponents in the United States are facing increasing challenges when it comes to utilizing digital assets for expenditures. Several crypto companies have encountered difficulties in securing banking partners. This week, Bitpay, a prominent player in the crypto payments sector, made an announcement regarding the termination of its current Bitpay prepaid Mastercard program. This decision follows the end of its partnership with Metropolitan Commercial Bank.
Crypto Payment Giant Bitpay Ends Prepaid Mastercard Program
Bitpay, the Atlanta-based crypto payments company, has made the decision to halt its prepaid Mastercard program, rendering the card unusable for Bitpay Mastercard holders after the specified deadline. Breaking the news through a series of informative tweets on May 18, 2023, Bitpay also notified cardholders via email. Urging users to promptly terminate any recurring payments linked to the prepaid card, the company has set June 1, 2023, as the final day for card loading.
We’ve seen some hot takes since announcing our short transition period for the BitPay Card and want to make one thing clear: we’re not going away, just taking some time to change banks and enhance the card program.
More details in the thread
pic.twitter.com/HeuGZIlst1
— BitPay (@BitPay) May 18, 2023
Bitpay has announced that the card’s final day of usability is scheduled for June 15, 2023, after which it will cease to function. On January 9, 2023, the crypto sector received news regarding Metropolitan Bank’s decision to discontinue its involvement in crypto-asset-related endeavors. At the time, Metropolitan revealed that it serviced “four active institutional crypto-asset related clients,” collectively contributing approximately 1.5% of total revenues and 6% of total deposits.
When Bitpay took to Twitter to share the update, it assured its users that a revamped card service will make a comeback later this year. Although the current situation may be seen as a temporary setback, the company expressed its commitment to relaunching the Bitpay Card with enhancements through a new banking partner. While June 15 marks the final day to utilize the card for transactions, any remaining balances will be refunded. Within 30 days, users can expect to receive a reimbursement in the form of a paper check mailed to the address associated with their Bitpay Card.
“We will share additional details regarding the new card program, including new features, shortly,” the company’s email message detailed. “These changes will require a short transition period in which your current card will become inactive. As a cardholder, you will automatically be enrolled on the waitlist for the new program,” the crypto payments company’s card update concluded.
What are your thoughts on the challenges faced by cryptocurrency companies in accessing banking services? What do you think about Bitpay shutting down its current prepaid Mastercard program? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Dogecoin (DOGE) Is Now 4th Most Popular Cryptocurrency On BitPay
Dogecoin, a dog-themed meme crypto that appears to enjoy strong ties with tech billionaire and Twitter owner Elon Musk, appears to be struggling to gain enough ground for a major upward swing.
After peaking at .0749 on January 5, DOGE fell victim to a price retracement that pulled it all the way down to .0705 the following day.
Since then, the altcoin launched a mini rally to recoup some of its losses, enabling it to notch a 2.4% increase in value over the last seven days.
According to tracking from Coingecko, at the time of writing, Dogecoin is changing hands at .0719 and despite its early struggles this year, it is able to strongly keep its place as the 8th largest cryptocurrency courtesy of its market cap which currently stands at .90 billion.
Dogecoin Still Among The More Popular Crypto Assets
Although still far from rewarding its faithful holders with significant profit through a massive price hike, DOGE continues to establish itself as among the well-known digital currencies.
Just recently, BitPay, one of the world’s leading crypto payments processors, revealed that the meme token is the fourth most popular transactional currency in its platform.
According to data shared by the company, in December 2022, Dogecoin accounted for 10% of all transactions it processed, almost doubling the 6% tally it had in June.
The memecoin placed behind Bitcoin (1st, 41.81%), Litecoin (2nd, 25.51%) and Ethereum (3rd, 11.53%).
This development could be interpreted as an indication that more and more people are using the digital asset as a means of exchange.
Along this line, leading Indian cryptocurrency trading app CoinSwitch with more or less 20 million users mentioned in its report that DOGE was included in the list of the most popular virtual currencies owned by its customers.
The Undeniable Musk Effect
As time goes by, it is slowly becoming apparent that Dogecoin might live and fade with the self-proclaimed “Dogefather” Elon Musk as his social media comments of the memecoin triggers instant price movements.
For example, when the Tesla CEO completed his controversial purchase of social media giant Twitter back in October 2022, DOGE’s price registered a significant uptick, from .0720 in October 27 to .1572 on November 1.
Months before his acquisition of the company, Musk floated the idea of having Dogecoin accepted as a payment for Twitter’s Blue services.
-Featured image: Cryptoglobe
Paypal Loses AMC Theaters Throne, Bitpay Will Support Shiba Inu Payments
AMC Theather, the largest movie theater company in the world, announced that they will be accepting Shiba Inu (SHIB) as a payment method through Bitpay, becoming their first client to do so.
The company has been working on accepting diverse cryptocurrencies as payment methods for a while and now offers to do so through PayPal, which allows payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Lietcoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
However, AMC is also interested in accepting the meme cryptocurrencies Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) because of the remarkable popularity both showed on Twitter during polls made by the theater chain CEO Adam Aron.
When CEO Adam Aron conducted the last Twitter poll, Shiba Inu got 124,623 votes in favor, which takes us to this new announcement in which Shiba Inu shares its spotlight with Bitpay. In about 3 months PayPal will cease to be the only payment method that supports cryptocurrencies on the AMC website.
Related Reading | AMC Theaters Considers Accepting Shiba Inu As Payment Amid Growing Interest
Bitpay, as a payment method for the theater chain, does not only allow more cryptos as options -a great marketing strategy for AMC-, but it also emphasizes Paypal limitations with only four crypto coins and services that lack many great features offered by actual crypto wallets.
SHIB price at .00004960 in the daily chart | Source: SHIBUSD on TradingView.com
PayPal Gives Fake Numbers As Crypto, Users Say
At the beginning of the year, Paypal launched a new service enabling its customers to “buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal account”. Ever since, they reported a 22% yearly increase of active accounts in Q3, now having 361 million users.
For Paypal, this seems to have worked as a rewarding marketing strategy, since the main intention was to attract clients that might stay for other features.
However, Paypal does not provide its users with a crypto wallet and there are no private keys. The crypto bought in PayPal can mostly be useful inside its retail network.
Essentially, what the platform does is hold the user’s cryptocurrencies on its behalf, but does not provide them with a real one. Using Paypal also implies no anonymity and limited options to use the funds, which, for many, defeats the purpose of crypto.
Back to when the company made the announcement, many Reddit users described the feature as something that gives “fake numbers as crypto”, stating that this is not an intent of adoption of crypto, but the monopolization of it, and if the mainstream adoption of crypto were to follow this path, it would not be different as “the banks holding all the money”.
One user suggested that PayPal “will simply let people think they are using Bitcoin when they’re really not, and then use the blockchain as a settlement layer. And then we’re right back in a central bank dystopia.”
PayPal expanded this feature towards Venmo. A spokesperson shared with Bloomberg that offering crypto is “part of Venmo’s continued evolution from a peer-to-peer payments app to a more holistic offering that our customers rely on in their everyday financial lives.”
Related Reading | PayPal Co-founder Peter Thiel Admits He Underinvested In Bitcoin
PayPal Vs. Bitpay
PayPal’s crypto announcements did have some highlights, as its already wide platforms could increase the public’s acceptance of major coins. Some even thought that it could also increase their value, and saw the possibility for the company to allow withdrawals of coins eventually.
However, BitPay crypto-related features are not only better, but truer to crypto ideals. Users claim Bitcoin transfers from other wallets to BitPay are easy, it allows payments from anywhere, Bitcoin can be directly transferred into a debit card or exchanged for other currencies. Creating a Bitcoin wallet in the platform allows the user to spend the coin anywhere by offering to turn it into dollars.
Non-custodial wallets, such as BitPay’s, are described as decentralized because the customer gets to own its private keys and has total control over their funds, opposingly to PayPal’s service.
The rating for user satisfaction between the two platforms reads BitPay (100%) vs. PayPal (97%) according to FinancesOnline. Now being under the eye of AMC’s huge customer base and SHIB’s enthusiasts, will BitPay be overshadowing PayPal as a payment method?
Bitpay Launches Support For Three USD Stablecoins But Not Tether
n BitPay is now formally accepting stablecoins for payment, but not the one which is by far the most widely usedn
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Mystery Man Gets Berlin Shop to Drop BitPay, Accept Bitcoin Directly
n An unknown super nice guy none other than A. Antonopolous spurred a small-time Gelato place in Berlins hip Friedrichshain district to start accepting Bitcoinn
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
Hong Kong Free Press Gives BitPay the Boot, Brings BTCPay Onboard
Frustrated Hong Kong Free Press has changed its payment processor from BitPay to BTCPay in order to receive its donation payments.nThe post Hong Kong Free Press Gives BitPay the Boot, Brings BTCPay Onboard appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.n
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Hong Kong Free Press Fires BitPay Over Bitcoin Payment Delays
Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) has fired BitPay, a US-based bitcoin payment processing service, over non-service.
The independent media firm announced today that it is going to replace BitPay with its rival BTCPay, an open-source alternative to pay merchants online via bitcoin. HKFP projected BTCPay as better service, stating that it would allow donators to remain anonymous, a feature that was missing in a more-regulated BitPay.
“Help us eliminate processing fees or make a fully anonymous contribution by donating Bitcoin,” wrote HKFP.
HKFP has escaped the clutches of BitPay and – with the kind help of @LeoAW – now accepts Bitcoin again via BTCPay: https://t.co/RdUnfImJ5O Thank you Leo!
— Tom Grundy (@tomgrundy) October 10, 2019
The Brawl That Started It All
HKFP’s announcement came a month after the agency complained about BitPay for blocking their bitcoin payments. Editor-in-chief Tom Grundy took to Twitter to explain how the US company was sitting atop their donations for almost three weeks. He added BitPay refused to process their financial transactions because it does not support IBAN, an internationally recognized, standardized method of identifying bank accounts during a money transaction.
“Never use BitPay, folks,” Grundy tweeted, adding the firm offers “truly the worst experience you can imagine – poor reputation, abysmal communication, horrible customer service, *very* high fees.”
“Almost any alternative will be better,” he said.
Grundy also threatened to sue BitPay’s co-founder & CEO Stephen Pair, stating that he is “ready to go to war.”
BitPay did not issue any official statement related to the controversy, which might have led Grundy & co to look for better, peer-to-peer alternatives.
Bitcoin to the Rescue
Nonprofit journalist groups have continuously relied on bitcoin for receiving donations. The cryptocurrency helps them bypass expensive – and often overly-regulated – banking systems. Even whistleblowers like Wikileaks, whose inbound contributions were once blocked by Visa and Mastercard, resorted to bitcoin. HKFP, which relentlessly offers non-biased reports out of Chinese and Hong Kong regions, therefore relies on the cryptocurrency for the very same reason.
The agency has so far received HK,000 worth of support in bitcoin. But, owing to the cryptocurrency’s underlying price volatility, it had opted to hire BitPay, which instantly converts bitcoin payments to fiat for a fee. Nevertheless, with BitPay choking HKFP’s payments, especially in times of ongoing protests in Hong Kong, the nonprofit thought it was better to either halt their bitcoin payment option or choose an alternative.
‘You’re not alone’: Hong Kong activists united over raising awareness about gender-based violence https://t.co/CI9RJDem6q @resolve_hk #WorldMentalHealthDay #WMHD19 @creery_J [Partnership]
— Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) October 10, 2019
The event put BitPay in a bad light, specifically after similar incidents showed the US firm blocking payments to specific firms. The most controversial decision in the recent memory was of preventing donations that could have contributed groups fighting against the Amazon rainforest fires.
The post Hong Kong Free Press Fires BitPay Over Bitcoin Payment Delays appeared first on NewsBTC.
Will Ethereum Golden Cross and BitPay Support Send ETH Surging?
This week has been all about Ethereum. Finally the second largest crypto asset on the planet appears to be moving without the influence of its big brother dictating things. ETH prices are on the up again today and the fundamentals keep improving.
Ethereum Golden Cross
It has been another good day for Ethereum prices which have finally reached the psychological 0 level after a month trading below it. A dip back to the 50 hour moving average just below 0 yesterday was short lived as price quickly bounced back.
The move back to just below 0 is the highest Ethereum has traded at since this time last month. A slight pullback has dropped ETH to 7 at the time of writing and it needs to break this barrier before its next leg up.
A golden cross is clearly visible on the four hour chart as the faster 50 MA crosses above the slower moving 200. This is a bullish trend reversal signal and is usually followed by a rally. However, one analyst has noted that total market capitalization has not increased indicating that no new money is flowing into ETH yet.
“ETH is up but total crypto market cap still staying flat, price increase could just be money being moved around from other crypto’s rather than fresh money. Waiting for TMC to pass 0B”
ETH is up but total crypto market cap still staying flat, price increase could just be money being moved around from other crypto’s rather than fresh money. Waiting for TMC to pass 0B
— Etherdamus (@Etherdamus) September 17, 2019
Others are hoping that Ethereum can kick start a wider altcoin run as Bitcoin appears to be running short of buyers. At the moment the rest of the altcoins are flat or in the red but the possibility of an ETH decoupling will be strengthened if it can break the 0 barrier.
BitPay Adds Support
News that crypto payments provider, BitPay has finally added Ethereum support is also bullish. In a press release the company said businesses can accept Ethereum for purchases without the need for any integration or enhancements. Originally only BTC, BCH and a few stablecoins were available on the platform.
Ethereum godfather Vitalik Buterin was pleased with the announcement, adding.
“It is exciting to see BitPay leading the way in integrating Ethereum into global payment systems. This truly opens up a new world of possibilities for the Ethereum ecosystem, and together we can continue to be a leading innovator for real world use cases for cryptocurrencies.”
The news adds to other bullish fundamentals for Ethereum such as Santander’s million bond on the blockchain last week, further developments in the DeFi ecosystem for DAI, and a successful network test of ETH 2.0 clients.
Image from Shutterstock
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