Following the announcement of its bid to takeover payment processing rival Skrill, Optimal Payments (OPAY), the leading global provider of payment processing services, has added the bitcoin cryptocurrency to its broad list of available payment options. Through an agreement struck with bitcoin provider and payment processor BitPay Inc., OPAY’s e-wallet and online global payment processing arm NETELLER is now offering customers, including online gambling players, the payment option of using bitcoin for their real money online payment transactions.
The payment method entails exchanging a customer’s virtual bitcoin currency into any of NETELLER’s numerous currency offerings. The processing method therefore lessens the risk of price volatility associated with the virtual money. The bitcoin payment method enables merchants, including online gambling facility operators, to accept a form of cryptocurrency that they can immediately convert into their preferred legal tender.
According to BitPay Inc. using NETELLER’s bitcoin payment method gives customers cost savings of up to five percent (5%), through the elimination of fees related to currency conversions and cash advances. Moreover, BitPay, Inc. asserts that in contrast to other payment options that necessitate manual data input to complete a payment transaction, the use of bitcoin saves time especially when the service is rendered in more than a hundred countries across the globe.
The bitcoin provider and processing company explained that NETELLER recognises the increasing strategic significance of bitcoin, as the ewallet provider is currently providing its payment processing services to more than 10 million customers that use prepaid or debit cards. Through the agreement signed with BitPay Inc. by NETELLER parent company Optimal Payments, debit or prepaid cards can be loaded with bitcoin currency, as this could help in furthering the adoption of bitcoin as mainstream payment method.
The CEO of Optimal Payments Joel Leonoff remarked that NETELLER already provides customers and accredited merchants with an expansive and diverse set of online payment methods. In offering bitcoin as additional payment option, NETELLER has another helpful payment method to use when converting numerous online payment transactions. On that note, the OPAY CEO commented that they are well aware of the importance of crypto-currencies in potential payment methods, which make the payment-processing firm, look forward to working with BitPay, Inc. as the rate of bitcoin acceptance continues to grow. Sonny Singh, the Chief Operating Officer at BitPay Inc. added that the popularity of bitcoin is rising rapidly, as the cryptocurrency has established itself as the safest and most widely received digital currency. He comments that the newly forged business relationship with Optimal Payments will help them drive acceptance among merchants on a global scale.
The NETELLER website states that the bitcoin deposit payment services for online gambling accounts is available in all countries except the United States. Moreover, NETELLER users can link their prepaid Net+ MasterCard to their respective Neteller accounts, which include an option to use bitcoin deposits in recharging the prepaid or debit card.
Since most online gambling operators feature NETELLER’s services as one of their available deposit payment and withdrawal methods, this denotes that almost all Internet-based online betting and gaming facilities can now accept bitcoin payments.
