Dish, one of the largest television providers in the U.S., announced that it would accept Bitcoin Cash payments from customers, according to a new report.
In 2014, the satellite company became one of the first providers to accept bitcoin. The new policy was made possible under an agreement with BitPay, which provides streamlined payments for bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Dish CEO John Swieringa said in a statement that the company gets “a steady volume of customers paying with cryptocurrency each month, and BitPay will allow us to continue offering more choice and convenience to our customers.”
In the announcement, Dish said that customers can pay for monthly subscriptions, as well as pay-per-view movies and events. The company said that Dish customers can send, in a push transaction, the exact amount of bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash required to make one-time payments on mydish.com or Dish’s Hopper DVR. The company said that BitPay exchanges the payments at the exact moment of the transaction, so there is no volatility risk associated with the cryptocurrency transaction.
According to the report, the policy comes at a time when bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are in a bit of a bear market. For example, Steam, the online gaming platform, announced last December that it would no longer accept bitcoin for payment amid a volatile run.
BitPay noted that Dish plans to migrate its BTC integration into the partner’s platform, according to the report. BitPay CCO Sonny Singh is quoted as saying that the “goal for Dish network is a seamless transition for BitPay,” so that customers currently paying with bitcoin can have the option to pay with either bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash.
Late last month, Fundstrat Global Advisors announced that it had implemented BitPay, making it the first Wall Street research firm to accept bitcoin.