BitPay’s Million Merchant March

BitPay wants to make it easier for merchants to start taking bitcoin, and thinks it can succeed well enough to get a million merchants behind the company by the conclusion of 2016.

“We have set a goal to enroll one million merchants by the end of 2016,” said Tony Gallippi, BitPay’s co-founder and executive chairman, reported Finextra. “When we started BitPay in 2011, we saw an opportunity to finally give merchants around the world relief from interchange fees. By offering a basic plan that is free and unlimited, forever, we give merchants yet another reason to be excited about bitcoin.”

Going forward, BitPay will be offering free processing by giving merchants unlimited access to any plugin, API or app from the BitPay library, as well as free access to email support.  There will still be pay-to-play options for merchants looking for additional support or product offerings.
 
BitPay is pitching the service to merchants as the next evolution in payments that can free merchants from the high cost option of using credit cards.  As an ancilliary benefit, BitPay is also highlighting the degree to which international markets – where traditional banking is underdeveloped and credit card transactions can be uncertain – are better opened by digital currencies like bitcoin. 
 
The question is, will lower cost actually be enough to draw a million merchants to bitcoin?

 

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