BitPay and Method Financial Partner on Cryptocurrency Bill Pay Solution

BitPay has launched a Bill Pay solution that enables users to pay their bills with cryptocurrency.

Bill Pay allows users to make payments to over 5,000 service providers, directly from a self-custody wallet application, the provider of bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services said in a Tuesday (Aug. 8) press release. This removes the need for banks and wires and also simplifies the payment process.

“Paying everyday bills without a bank account is a monumental step for the crypto and unbanked community,” BitPay CEO Stephen Pair said in the release.

Embedded banking service Method Financial has partnered with BitPay for this venture, according to the press release. Method Financial provides application programming interfaces (APIs) to access consumer bills and liability data and automate the process of bill payments.

With Method Financial’s technology, users of BitPay Bill Pay can easily settle accounts with the most up-to-date information regarding their accounts and balances, the release said.

“Method is proud to partner with BitPay in helping the crypto community expand the way it uses cryptocurrency and maintains financial health,” Method Financial Co-founder and CEO Jose Bethancourt said in the release.

BitPay Bill Pay is available in the District of Columbia and 19 states: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Washington, according to the press release.

Twenty-three percent of everyday consumers and 35% of tech-driven consumers say they prefer merchants that accept crypto payments, according to “Shopping With Cryptocurrency: Tech-Driven Consumers Drive Market Acceptance,” a PYMNTS and BitPay collaboration.

While merchants should, in theory, be drawn to the fact that crypto holders tend to be younger, more tech-savvy and relatively more affluent than most other shopper demographics, greater mainstream adoption of crypto payments has yet to materialize, Pair told PYMNTS in an interview posted in December 2022.

“There are many merchants that are still not ready for it,” Pair said at the time. “They may serve a demographic that is more buy now, pay later than a wealthier, cryptocurrency-using customer base. Maybe they just don’t see the demand from their particular customers for this payment option — but for many other merchants, we can be anywhere from 5% to 10% of their transaction volume.”