Posts Tagged ‘BitPay’

Microsoft Starting to Accept Bitcoin Payments

11, Dec 2014

microsoft-bitcoin-payment

Microsoft has announced officially that thanks to a partnership with the crypto currency payment processor BitPay they are now starting to accept Bitcoins as a form of payment from users. Starting today you can trade-in Bitcoin – at current market value – and add it to your Microsoft account and then the funds can be used to purchase content in the Windows Store, or in stores that house Xbox Games, Xbox Music or Xbox Video. While the virtual currency can be used to put funds into Microsoft accounts, it can’t be used to pay directly for other Microsoft products and services other than the content mentioned.

Starting today, Bitcoin should appear as an option for those wishing to add money to their Microsoft accounts. If you want to transfer your Bitcoins, you first need to select the amount of money to add to your Microsoft account. BitPay calculates the equivalent amount in Bitcoin and delivers that information, along with a BitPay Bitcoin address and payment instructions. You then pay the displayed amount of Bitcoin from your wallet to complete the transaction. There is a cap on how much you can exchange per day: $1000 USD (or its equivalent in your country or region’s currency) to your Microsoft account on any given day, and no more than $5000 USD to additional Microsoft accounts that are registered in your name or by you.

Bitcoin Checkout, a Quick and Easy App for Accepting BTC Payments

4, Nov 2014

bitpay-bitcoin-checkout

The payment processor BitPay has just released an application called Bitcoin Checkout for mobile devices using iOS such as iPhone and iPad as well as for Android-based tablets and smartphones making it quicker and easier for merchants to accept Bitcoin payments. BitPay’s new point-of-sale application Bitcoin Checkout is designed to be really simple and easy to be used to accept Bitcoin payments from customers, so that it can easily be used alongside existing point-of-sale systems. The application works with the familiar 2D barcodes for the payment, but also supports NFC for payments, though support that could be limited depending on what kind of mobile device is used by both the merchant and the customers. This is a clear example of how simple and easy an alternative form of payments such as Bitcoin can be integrated by merchants without the need of specialized hardware as a payment processor. When you add the very small transaction fees for the merchant for Bitcoin payments as compared to what credit card payment processors charge there is no reason not to add Bitcoin payments as an option for attracting new customers. For merchants accepting Bitcoin payments there is also no risk from the Bitcoin price changing significantly as pretty much all of them are immediately exchanging the Bitcoins they receive as payment into USD, EUR etc.

– For more information about the Bitcoin Checkout application from BitPay…

PayPal To Support Bitcoin Payments Through the PayPal Payments Hub

23, Sep 2014

paypal-logo

PayPal as one of the largest online payment processors in the world is seeing the potential that Bitcoin and crypto currencies in general have and they do want to take advantage of the Bitcoin and the technology that comes with it. So it is no wonder that PayPal is interested in supporting Bitcoin payments as well, but today there are more interesting news regarding the Bitcoin support from PayPal. Earlier this month the company has announced that businesses working with Braintree, a PayPal company, will soon be able to accept Bitcoin as a payment option through their partnership with Coinbase, a BTC payment processor. Today however came another big announcement from PayPal as the “next step in helping merchants accept Bitcoin payments”. PayPal has entered into agreements with leading Bitcoin payment processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin. Starting today, these agreements let PayPal digital goods merchants accept Bitcoin with a simple integration through the PayPal Payments Hub. This will be available to merchants in North America first.

“To be clear, today’s news does not mean that PayPal has added Bitcoin as a currency in our digital wallet or that Bitcoin payments will be processed on our secure payments platform. PayPal has always embraced innovation, but always in ways that make payments safer and more reliable for our customers. Our approach to Bitcoin is no different. That’s why we’re proceeding gradually, supporting Bitcoin in some ways today and holding off on other ways until we see how things develop.”

The reaction of the crypto currency market to this announcement has caused a spike in the prices that were keeping quite low for a few days already, we’ll see if the upwards trend continues or it will be followed by another dump of coins.

– To read the full announcement from PayPal about their new support for Bitcoin payments…


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