Crypto Payment Service BitPay Launches Settlement in USDC, GUSD

BitPay, a blockchain-oriented company that provides payment solutions, announced on Monday its merchant partners would be able to settle payments in two new stablecoins - Circle’s USDC and Gemini’s GUSD, both backed by the US dollar.

Previously, merchants and companies worldwide could leverage the BitPay technology to accept payments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. However, the notorious volatility of cryptocurrencies is likely to make stablecoins a welcome alternative.

From now on, BitPay merchants and companies can receive settlement in USDC and GUSD. BitPay invoices can display the prices of these stablecoins in 150 currencies, with settlement available in 190 countries.

BitPay co-founder and CEO Stephen Pair commented:

“BitPay was founded to make payments faster, more secure, and less expensive using Bitcoin for organizations around the world. The introduction of the USDC and GUSD stable coin offers BitPay customers a new alternative to holding Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash by offering a stable coin option.”

BitPay claims that users around the world can rely on its system as it processes cross-border payments faster than traditional bank wire transfers. In addition, the technology cuts the high commissions typical of wires. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments carried out through BitPay greatly reduce the friction, time, and cost for international business-to-business (B2B) payments, according to the service provider.

Now companies can use BitPay to receive settlements in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, bank transfer, or the two recently added stablecoins. Bank transfers are initiated during business days only, while crypto payments are settled the next day, be it the weekend or a holiday.

Circle, a company backed by Goldman Sachs, launched its USDC coin last month in partnership with CENTRE. The ERC-20 token has been available on Poloniex since the first day, which was to be expected given that the crypto exchange was acquired by Circle earlier in 2018.