AT&T, US-based telecoms giant has declared itself the first “major U.S. mobile carrier to provide a cryptocurrency payment option to customers” after launching a service that will enable its customers to pay their phone bills through cryptocurrency.
In an announcement on Thursday, May 23th, the leading telecommunications company published a press release that revealed a partnership with cryptocurrency payments processor BitPay, which will allow its customers to make payments in both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve and expand our services,” said Kevin McDorman, vice president, AT&T Communications Finance Business Operations. “We have customers who use cryptocurrency, and we are happy we can offer them a way to pay their bills with the method they prefer.”
It seems that only the billing service will be supporting BitPay integration while the rest of the services offered by AT&T will remain unaffected. Services such as purchasing new phones or signing up for new service contracts in the AT&T storefronts will still be only accepting fiat payments through credit cards, checks or wire transfers.
BitPay works by helping businesses accept cryptocurrency without handling the crypto themselves. The service automatically converts the payments made in crypto into fiat saving its clients the hustle of minting records for cryptocurrency in their books.
Founded back in 2011, the company now has merchants all across five continents that now accept cryptocurrency thanks to the BitPay integration. As stated by an AT&T spokesperson,
“BitPay provides payment processing services for merchants and is one of the largest bitcoin payment processors in the world. Our customers are on this platform and we are always looking for different ways to better serve our customers.”
Headquartered in Dallas Texas, AT&T is the world’s largest provider of telecommunications services and the largest provider of fixed telephone services through its parent company AT&T Communications. In addition, AT&T Communications is also the parent company to WarnerMedia, one of the largest entertainment companies in the world effectively this makes AT&T the largest media and Telecommunications Company by revenue count.
Despite the fact that BitPay allows users to make payments in only two cryptocurrencies, the company makes remittances to its clients in up to eight fiat currencies and five cryptocurrencies. In addition to Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, the company also makes payments stablecoins Gemini dollar (GUSD), USD Coin (USDC) and Paxos Standard (PAX).
