Poynt, Bitpay push a network effect for crypto

BitPay has integrated bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments into Poynt’s Smart Terminal point-of-sale (POS) devices, reaching an addressable market of more than 100,000 retailers.

Consumers can use a QR code at checkout to access their cryptocurrency holdings through BitPay’s blockchain payment rails. Bitcoin, bitcoin cash, Ethereum and three dollar-pegged stablecoins are among the available cryptocurrencies.

BitPay claims to process more than one billion dollars in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for e-commerce annually. The integration with Poynt’s POS terminals provides BitPay with its first access to in-store payments on a large scale.

Osama Bedier, founder and CEO of Poynt noted that the addition of open-source decentralized currencies like bitcoin are a natural fit for the company’s open-commerce platform.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Poynt recently surpassed $9 billion in gross payment volume in a 12 month period and it expects that the partnership with BitPay will continue to fuel its growth.

According to Crunchbase, a website that tracks investments in private startup companies, Poynt has raised over $133 million in four funding rounds since 2014. In its Series C funding round in 2018 Poynt raised $100 million from strategic partners Elavon and National Australia Bank to help it rival Square and other hardware providers with customized software applications for merchants.

“It’s a massive growth opportunity for BitPay and an important milestone in our now nine-year mission to make payments faster, more secure and less expensive for people and businesses,” Stephen Pair, CEO and co-founder of BitPay, said in a press release.