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- BitPay and Verifone have teamed up to allow merchants to accept crypto as payment.
- The solution will protect merchants from volatility in the crypto markets, Verifone said.
- Many merchants are in talks to use the service but none have officially signed up yet, BitPay said.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Buying pizza with dogecoin or litecoin might soon be possible.
A new partnership between crypto payments processor BitPay and Verifone, the maker of credit card readers, is aiming to allow customers to use their cryptocurrency to pay for products later this year, according to a Tuesday press release.
“If they decide to buy a pizza with Visa or AmEx or crypto, we don’t care,” Mike Pulli, chief executive officer of Verifone, told Bloomberg in an interview. “We just want to give them the flexibility to pay the way they want to.”
Users with approved crypto wallets, like Blockchain.com and BitPay, can use one of 11 difference cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, dogecoin, and litecoin, to make purchases.
Once at checkout, customers will choose their crypto wallet on the device generally used as a card reader. The consumer will then scan QR code from the screen using their crypto wallet to complete the transaction. Merchants will receive the crypto in US dollars in their bank accounts.
“The new solution enables merchants to broaden their customer base and promote crypto acceptance while being protected from the price volatility of the cryptocurrency markets,” Verifone said in the press release.
Verifone said its merchant base has been looking to tap into the crypto market – which is now worth more than $2 trillion. Verifone has merchants such as Whole Foods and Macy’s in its portfolio, Bloomberg reported.
Though no merchants have yet signed up for the new service, many are in talks to do so, according to BitPay, which currently processes more than 60,000 crypto transactions per month.
Cryptocurrencies are “becoming more mainstream by the day,” Blockchain.com’s senior product manager Amadeo Pellicce said. Amazon is among the largest players that has shown interest in stepping into the crypto payments world. A a June job-listing said the online retail giant is looking for a leader to “develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.”
PayPal, XBox, and Taco Bell-owner Yum Brands have also begun allowing cryptocurrency payments this year.