Verifone, one of the largest point-of-sale providers in the world, has partnered with BitPay to allow US-based merchants to accept crypto payments
It has been reported that online merchants and physical retailers must begin accepting crypto payments to ensure mainstream adoption. According to findings from Fundera, only about 2,300 businesses in the United States accepted Bitcoin payments at the end of 2020.
Mike Pulli, the CEO of Verifone, said that by the end of this year, merchants leveraging Verifone’s in-store and eCommerce Cloud Services platforms in the United States will be able to accept cryptocurrency payments.
He added that Verifone has been seeking alternative payment methods recently, and will now support crypto transactions due to the mainstream’s rising interest in cryptocurrency.
Pulli said:
“We feel that having crypto available on our terminals will open up more options and opportunities for consumers, which is what Verifone aims to do. This opens up a currency that has never before been seen on a terminal and we want to be at the forefront of this trend.”
However, the company’s reach is substantial and will therefore likely have an impact on crypto payment adoption although Pulli was unable to reveal which online and physical merchants will begin to support crypto payments.
The report said that to put this in perspective, Verifone operates 36 million point-of-sale (POS) devices and has processed over 10 billion transactions, generating over $350 billion in volume per year.
Likewise, Stephen Pair, the CEO of BitPay, said that while BitPay regularly enables merchants to process crypto transactions, Verifone is by far the biggest partnership to date.
He added:
“Verifone customers are requesting to have crypto payments. This has become the case as there are millions of crypto users today that have blockchain wallets on their phones that they want to leverage.”
Moreover, to Pair’s point, head of alternative payment methods at Verifone Jeremy Belostock said that the company is witnessing a major shift in consumer behavior due to reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Belostock noted that, more than ever before, consumers are trusting mobile wallets, looking at these as quick and easy payment methods.
He added:
“There has been a shift from having a credit card to having a trusted mobile app that consumers want to leverage for spending. We are tapping into this market to make crypto mainstream.”
Thus, Belostock explained that Verifone’s advanced payment engine designed to support crypto transactions functions the same as its terminals that accept Venmo or PayPal payments.
Source: Cointelegraph