Stephen Pair, co-founder and CEO of BitPay, believes blockchain is the future of the payments industry. In The Connected Economy’s Power Source – CEO Edition, find out why Pair thinks that merchant and consumer adoption of blockchain will continue to accelerate in 2021.
It is all about the blockchain. Blockchain IS the future of the payments industry. Blockchain is revolutionizing payments, modernizing traditional pay methods and legacy rails with something faster, more secure and decentralized. Blockchain-based payments enable businesses to grow sales without the risk of costly fraud chargebacks, the expense of legacy pay methods or the complexity of currency exchange.
Crypto usage increased exponentially over the last few years because it has disrupted traditional financial systems by making it as easy to send money as it is to send an email. The ability to accept crypto expands a business’ sales opportunity into international markets where accepting credit cards is not practical, while reducing high fees and increasing payment transparency and efficiency. Corporations that conduct business internationally and send billions overseas incur high fees and delays of up to a week. Combined with the market capitalization for crypto approaching a trillion, the potential market opportunity for crypto is ideal.
Today’s momentum, growth and interest in blockchain is going to continue. BitPay believes that with continued adoption and increased regulatory involvement, the industry will reach an inflection point that will forever change consumer confidence and trust, and pave the way for blockchain payments to disrupt the way consumers receive and spend funds.
In just the last 10 years since BitPay was founded, blockchain has become commonplace, and vendors like Microsoft, AT&T and Twitch have adopted blockchain technology to enhance payments. With bitcoin price hikes and recent investor and celebrity investments in bitcoin, consumers are spending crypto for both day-to-day and luxury purchases like never before. At the same time, new merchants are entering the space to increase sales and acquire new customers.
BitPay is also seeing an increase in the use of stablecoins among businesses that transact internationally with other businesses, and not necessarily consumers. Many businesses also do not want to have or hold crypto on their books because it can be a difficult process for their accountants. Stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. dollar, making it an easy intro to crypto for many businesses.
Stablecoins allow businesses in the west to receive settlement in less than an hour, and any business around the world can receive stable settlements pegged to an internationally accepted currency. We also expect this trend to continue as companies look to save money and receive settlements faster.
BitPay pioneered blockchain payment processing with the mission of transforming how businesses and people send, receive and store money globally. Its business solutions eliminate transaction fraud, reduce the cost of payment processing and enable borderless payments in cryptocurrency. For 2021, BitPay foresees that merchant and consumer adoption will continue to accelerate, and that more and more businesses and consumers will turn to bitcoin and other cryptos as a means of commerce and for transacting.
