BitPay CEO Hints at Using Lightning Network in The Future

Stephen Pair, the CEO of BitPay, recently dropped some hints about the future of his platform. He said that the platform might soon integrate Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) and add support for more digital currencies.

Pair reveals it all

Talking to CoinTelegraph, Pair said that the platform is interested in adding several more cryptocurrencies to the network. However, he did not provide details about the coins which they plan to add. He mentioned that the platform would be focusing on adding the best performing blockchains with the biggest market caps.

He said that one could look up the top blockchains on CoinMarketCap to guess which currencies could be added to the network. He said that their preference would be to find cryptos that have better adoption and are well suited for making payments. Some smaller cryptocurrencies which do not have extensive adoption but are doing something innovative in the field of payments could also be added.

He added,

“I’m not going to name which ones we will add specifically, but you can look at CoinMarketCap to see all the top blockchains and come up with good guesses in what we are interested in. We are looking at cryptocurrencies that have adoption and work well for payments. We also might add some smaller ones that aren’t as adopted, but are doing something innovative around payments.”

BitPay’ crypto journey

BitPay has been active in the crypto sector since 2011, making it one of the premier Bitcoin payment services in the world. Pair claims that the company processes a billion-dollar worth of payment volume every year. It currently has more than 30 thousand active merchant accounts. BitPay is being used by major enterprises like Microsoft and AT&T, allowing its customers to transact in cryptocurrencies.

BitPay accepts Bitcoin, Ether, and Bitcoin Cash for in-store and online payments. Pair noted that their customers are requesting more cryptocurrencies on the platform. He said that they constantly received inquiries about stablecoins and Ripple’s XRP. Customers would prefer BitPay to support all digital coins but the company needs to choose which coins to allow on their platform.

Note that BitPay added Ripple’s XRP to their platform recently. It also supports three major stablecoins- Paxos Standard Token (PAX), Gemini Dollar (GUSD) and USD Coin (USDC).