AT&T Accepts Crypto via BitPay

To paraphrase the famous quote by Neil Armstrong, that’s one small addition to payment options by one corporation, one giant leap for the entire industry. This refers to the official press release issued a couple of days ago by AT&T.

In this document, the company proudly announced that it has become the pioneer among other major mobile carriers in the United States by introducing the option that allows users to pay online bills in cryptocurrencies through BitPay.

People want to pay in crypto, we give it to them

The news that was met enthusiastically by the global crypto community emerged on May 23, when AT&T announced on their official website that the corporation has partnered with BitPay with the purpose to integrate cryptocurrencies as one of many payment options available for the customers of AT&T Inc., a multinational telecommunication conglomerate that is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Kevin McDorman, the vice-president and the head of the finance business operations, emphasized that the decision to incorporate cryptocurrencies was prompted by the company’s sincere desire to improve the quality of their service and to heed the needs of their customers.

From now on, if a customer wants to pay his mobile bills online by the means of cryptocurrency, he can do so without any impediments via BitPay, the Bitcoin payment service provider, licensed in several states, including Washington, New York, and Florida.

Bill payment is by far the only area of cryptocurrency inclusion by AT&T, but the rumor has it that the company plans to broaden their scope of use by allowing purchases of phones and associated goods in the selected brick-and-mortar stores across the United States.

The press release didn’t contain any specifications concerning the cryptocurrencies that are now being accepted by the telecom behemoth, but it would be safe to assume that this list correlates with the list of currencies supported by BitPay, namely Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, the USD Coin issued by Circle, Gemini Dollars, and Paxos.

A bit closer to mass adoption

In order to make such payment, the user would have to log on his existing online AT&T account, or use myAT&T mobile application, and then select BitPay from a host of available payment options.

Judging by the fact that AT&T is virtually the first Fortune 500 company that went beyond mere speculations and adopted cryptocurrencies into its business operations, it is more than possible that the enterprises of a smaller scale will definitely follow its lead, which would mark the emersion of Bitcoin and altcoins from the shadows of the financial world.

AT&T has a long-standing crush on blockchain

In the autumn of last year, AT&T revealed that they had created a suite of blockchain solutions compatible with the IBM blockchain and Microsoft Azure to record big data, carry out the infrastructure asset management as well as integration with the corporation’s own IoT platforms. Aside, from IBM and Microsoft, this suite could be applied in the retail, healthcare, and manufacturing industries, facilitating the network security and providing for seamless financial transactions.

Author: Alex Paulson for Crypto-Rating.com