Bitcoin Daily: BitPay Unveils Crypto Mass Payout Service; BOE: Stablecoins Not Fit For Wide Use

Bitcoin Daily: Bitcoin Rises Over $16K Mark; BitPay Unveils Crypto Mass Payout Service; Bank of England Official: Stablecoins Not Fit For Wide Use

Crypto payment services provider BitPay has unveiled a new mass payout offering, BitPay Send, which lets entities of different sizes make payments to workers, clients, affiliates, suppliers, contractors and others with digital currency, according to a Thursday (Nov. 12) announcement.

AdGate Media is among the first firms to harness BitPay Send, the announcement noted.

“With BitPay Send, companies can make mass payouts without having to buy, own or manage crypto and their recipients receive payments quicker and at a lower cost,” BitPay CEO Stephen Pair said in the announcement.

BitPay Send lets firms facilitate client cashout requests, provide payroll payments, offer rebates or rewards, pay freelancers or affiliates and settle with marketplace sellers, according to the announcement.

In other news, the price of bitcoin exceeded the $16,000 price level on Thursday for the first time in nearly three years, CNBC reported.

Bitcoin last exceeded the $16,000 price point on Jan. 8, 2018. The price of the cryptocurrency was $16,301.03 as of 7:17 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, according to CoinDesk. It wasn’t immediately known why the cryptocurrency increased in price, but some observers have suggested a connection with the U.S. presidential election’s results.

“The U.S. election helped push BTC over the 14K resistance, both sides want more stimulus which is positive for equities which BTC has been correlating closely with throughout the year,” NEM Head of Trading Nicholas Pelecanos said, per CNBC.

And, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said he doesn’t think stablecoins are fit for broad use or have the ability to be trusted as a secure store of value, Reuters reported.

“The bar is set very high for private stablecoins, and I don’t think they have met that bar,” the official said in a panel discussion, noting that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) might be the answer “where you would get that guarantee and certainty of value.”