BitPay Expands Stablecoin Offerings, Lists Paxos Standard

By Swati Kishore

Georgia-based Bitcoin payment service provider, BitPay has listed the new Paxos Standard to expand its merchant settlement services by adding the stablecoin to its offerings. Paxos Standard is one of the most heavily traded stablecoins in the market right now.

In the recently published press release, the CEO of BitPay, Stephen Pair, is quoted as saying:

“BitPay is fully committed to transforming the financial industry through blockchain technology. We are furthering this mission by allowing our customers around the world to receive fast and low cost settlement using the USD backed Paxos Standard token. Paxos shares our vision to empower businesses across the globe to secure payments that are fast and stable.”

Interestingly, even though BitPay already supports Gemini’s GUSD and Circle’s USD Coin, it has so far not listed Tether, which is touted to be the world’s first stablecoin. Tether is backed by the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency trading platform, Bitfinex.

Like Coinbase, BitPay allows merchants to accept payments in Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies. The payments are consequently settled in US dollars. This is done to save the merchants from the volatility that is inherent in the crypto market. Stablecoins allow merchants to have more flexibility in locking in profits from their business. Since stablecoins are pegged to a fiat currency such as dollar, or euro, they provide merchants with an easy way to settle transactions without incurring the built-in costs of getting to fiat.

Paxos Standard is backed by iBit and is famously termed as the fastest growing and regulated stablecoin. It was launched in September, and thus far has the highest trading volume of any US Dollar pegged stablecoin. The PAX coin can be traded against other cryptocurrencies in the market, be it Tether or Ethereum. As per the website, “PAX has achieved the fastest and largest global adoption as the first regulated stablecoin, with daily trading volume upwards of $70,000,000 USD.”