Atlanta-based BitPay is teaming up with Paypal Inc. to expand the adoption of crypto-currency bitcoin.
BitPay is a payment service provider that specializes in Bitcoin digital currency. The company develops software tools that allow online merchants to collect payments over the bitcoin peer-to-peer payment network.
As part of the deal BitPay will integrate with PayPal’s Payments Hub, which is PayPal’s alternative payment platform for digital goods.
Merchants using Payments Hub can create a BitPay merchant account. PayPal customers with a bitcoin wallet will then be able to pay with bitcoin for games, music, videos, news, ebooks, and other digital content.
“PayPal’s Payments Hub is the ideal first step for PayPal to integrate bitcoin,” BitPay CEO Tony Gallippi said in a statement.
BitPay, which is backed by British business magnate Richard Branson and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, earlier this year raised $30 million in a round led by Index Ventures, with participation by Founders Fund, Felicis Ventures, RRE Ventures LLC, AME Cloud Ventures and Atlanta’s TTV Capital.
