Paying For Your Taco Bell Order With Dogecoin Could Soon Be A Possibility.
Later this year, newer Verifone terminals will begin accepting payments for US merchants from a variety of cryptocurrency wallets and tokens.
How about paying for your Taco Bell order with Dogecoin? Or some Whole Foods avocado ice cream with Bitcoin.
That’s the goal of a new partnership between crypto payment processor BitPay Inc. and Verifone Inc., one of the world’s largest providers of those little machines you use to pay with a credit card or Venmo on a payment line.
Later this year, newer Verifone terminals will begin accepting payments for US merchants from a variety of cryptocurrency wallets and tokens, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The widespread use of tokens for purchases has long been a goal that has eluded the crypto industry, with most users focusing on speculation and traders being spooked by the price volatility of digital assets.
BitPay said that it will provide greater protection against price fluctuations as the funds will be quickly settled into the merchant’s bank account in traditional currency once a transaction is completed.
BitPay already processes more than 60,000 transactions a month, more than half of them in Bitcoin, according to the company. By comparison, Visa Inc. handles an average of 150 million transactions per day.
“We just want to give consumers choice,” said Mike Pulli, Verifone’s CEO, in an interview. “If they decide to buy a pizza with Visa or AmEx or crypto, we don’t care. We just want to give them the flexibility to pay however they want. ”
Today, spending cryptocurrencies can be a headache: worst case scenario, a customer may need to move coins to an exchange, sell them, and then move money to a bank account to spend. Some people use their crypto money to buy gift cards. Others are signing up for debit cards offered by companies like Coinbase Global Inc., allowing them to use crypto anywhere Visa is accepted.
Verifone is the latest company looking to facilitate crypto payments. Last week, the social network Twitter allowed users to tip in Bitcoin. PayPal Holdings Inc. has also boosted its efforts in digital payments. Starbucks formed a partnership in 2018 to create a company designed to more closely integrate digital currencies into global commerce.
Traders are lining up for the product, Pulli said.
“There is a very good build up of them,” she said. “There is a lot of interest. I think our phones will ring non-stop ”once the capacity is better known.
While the companies didn’t say which merchants will be included, some brands Verifone works with already include American Eagle Outfitters, Macys, Williams Sonoma, Taco Bell and Whole Foods. Verifone and Atlanta-based BitPay did not disclose how long their exclusive partnership will last.
Verifone also has the option to invest in BitPay, the company said. BitPay has raised more than $ 70 million in funding from investors, including the Founders Fund and the Virgin Group.
Verifone, which Francisco Partners went private in 2018, does not plan to go public anytime soon, Pulli said.
“We have always felt that it was a matter of time before people had the expectation of being able to pay with crypto like they pay with Mastercard and Visa,” said Stephen Pair, BitPay’s chief executive, in an interview. “This development will accelerate that. Consumers just hope that’s an option. “
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