BitPay, a popular payment processor since 2011, released a blog post on December 15 stating the company would start accepting payments from multiple blockchains (i.e., different currencies), starting with Bitcoin Cash.

With the rise of Bitcoin in 2017 in terms of user adoption, market capitalization, trading volume, mainstream media, google searches, and so many more metrics, the currency itself was not the only thing that enjoyed growth.

In 2017 alone, BitPay states in their blog post that they processed over $1 billion in bitcoin payments, with their volume growing more than 300 percent from year to year. Requests from merchants over the years to accept additional payment methods in the form of different cryptocurrencies are finally being answered, to further satisfy the rising demand BitPay is experiencing.

Currently, demand has far exceeded current transaction capacity of the Bitcoin network, thus skyrocketing miner fees. While SegWit helps, typically reducing fees by 40 percent, it is simply not enough, with the current average transaction fee being around $25, according to BitInfoCharts. BitPay understands that different cryptocurrencies improve upon bitcoin in various aspects, anything from faster confirmation times to greater payment privacy. Because of this BitPay, will start with accepting bitcoin cash alongside bitcoin.

Bitcoin Cash is a fork off the Bitcoin network with payments in mind, which can be seen with its significantly lower fees and faster confirmation times. BitPay includes a comparison of the two fees per kB, which can be seen below:

As BitPay continues to add different payment methods, merchants will be able to select payment methods with features that best suit them in regard to confirmation times, as well as miner fee levels.

BitPay is already looking to integrate Bitcoin Cash into existing services, such as BitPay card loading. BitPay aims to include bitcoin cash options by default in early 2018 on all BitPay invoices.

BitPay’s expansion into looking into other blockchains does not mean they have lost focus or support for Bitcoin, and will continue look into options to help Bitcoin users affordably send payments, such as current development efforts into the Lightning Network.

BitPay’s announcement has coincided with a bullish run for bitcoin cash (BCH), which has managed to break $2000 in the past few days. The chart below shows that on December 19, BCH-USD approached its all-time high at $2799.00. With a fractal sell recently broken and no resistance indicated by the lagging line (purple), we should see the pair drift to $2799.00.

BCH-USD (Bitfinex, Daily): Drift toward ATH at $2799.00

The daily price action for BCH-BTC is shown below, with the market moving above the fractal sell level at 0.1285 on December 19. A daily close above this level will give a bullish signal, with resistance seen at the base line (red) at 0.1464 and the upper span of the Ichimoku cloud, at 0.2392.

BCH-BTC (Bittrex, Daily): Bouncing Higher from Lows

Currently Bitcoin Cash is the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, while bitcoin has $20,000 in its sights. It’ll be interesting to see if some sort of price association between the two forms in 2018. 

The post Payment Processor BitPay To Add Support for Bitcoin Cash appeared first on BTCMANAGER.

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Author: BTCManager.com