The cryptocurrency payments provider BitPay says it is offering an early holiday gift to Black Friday shoppers who prefer to pay in crypto.
The company announced Friday (Nov. 19) that it is working with its merchant partners to extend discounts on crypto purchases for the Black Friday shopping season. Some of these deals are available now, while others will begin Thanksgiving week, ahead of Black Friday.
“We are seeing so many consumers wanting to live life on crypto, and this holiday season again presented us with a great opportunity to support consumers who want to make purchases and merchants who accept crypto payments,” BitPay CEO Stephen Pair said in the news release.
“As the price of Bitcoin continues to climb along with Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Doge, crypto enthusiasts are looking for a way to cash-in and spend their earnings on holiday gifts and BitPay merchants want to attract new buyers this holiday buying season,” he said.
BitPay gives users multiple crypto payment options for the holiday shopping season, including the BitPay Wallet App, The BitPay Card, gift cards and the BitPay Chrome extension. The platform accepts a dozen cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), XRP (outside the U.S., as well as five USD-pegged stable coins (BUSD, DAI, GUSD, USDC and USDP).
BitPay says the total market cap of these coins is north of $1.6 trillion, accounting for close to 70% of the world’s crypto market cap.
“BitPay merchants realize the benefits to accepting crypto and want to leverage this high-value shopping holiday to attract new customers and boost sales,” the company said.
A full list of participating merchants and other places to spend crypto during the holidays season is available at the BitPay merchant directory.
Read more: Inventory Shortages Could Make Holiday 2021 The Year of the Gift Card
This offer comes ahead of what is likely to be an unusual holiday shopping season, as ongoing supply chain issues could ensure that some items aren’t available, regardless of how you plan to pay for them.
In an interview with PYMNTS Friday (Nov. 19), Brett Narlinger of the Blackhawk Network said his company is seeing rapid rise in gift card purchase, fueled in part by supply chain bottlenecks.
Consumers surveyed by Blackhawk said they plan to do as much as 41% of their holiday shopping using gift cards, with the average consumer buying 15 prepaid cards this year — a 50% increase over 2020 and a 200% increase from two years ago.
