BitPay Unveils its Ingenico Bitcoin Terminal

BitPay, the leading Bitcoin payment service provider, has teamed up with Ingenico, a company that manufactures point of sale terminals (POS). The companies are expected to release the Ingenico terminal ICT250, announcing it on October 6 at the Blockchain Week in Barcelona. BitPay developed the platform and installed it on the Ingenico terminal, showing signs that they want more than just e-commerce sales.

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Ingenico is a French-based service that provides traditional electronic POS terminals. The business offers state-of-the-art hardware and software to provide faster payment solutions to brick and mortar stores. In January of 2014, the company acquired 100% of the mobile payments group ROAM. Jacques Guérin, EVP Smart Terminals and Mobile Solutions, Ingenico Group said: “ROAM is a key part of the Ingenico Group worldwide portfolio as mobile commerce growth surges.” Earlier in 2015, the service collaborated with Paymium to allow certain European retailers accept Bitcoin. Thierry Denis, President of Ingenico Group, believes his company has taken commerce to the next level, saying,

“From being first to incorporate EMV capabilities within our technology solutions, to supporting Apple Pay from the first day it launched, — we are uniquely poised to take the company to the next level.”

Working alongside BitPay and integrating Bitcoin into their devices is just one of the next levels. Headed by Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair, BitPay is no stranger to crypto-commerce solutions, as the company is one of the largest global merchant providers for Bitcoin. The Atlanta-based service has made record achievements within the cryptocurrency payment solutions realm. For instance, in 2014 the company processed $1 Million USD per day. BitPay Executive Chairman Tony Gallippi said,

“We are excited to partner with Ingenico Group, one of the leading payment processors in both physical and online commerce, this integration will help us expand bitcoin payments to thousands of retail payment terminals worldwide.”

In June 2015, BitPay announced at a conference in Belfast that the it wanted to shift focus from merchant payment systems and concentrate on working with the banking industry. Despite this talk, the startup is still moving forward with merchant processing with this new hardware developed by Ingenico. According to the announcement, the machine will be compatible with most Ingenico Group’s terminals operating the real-time data platform Tealium.

Users who want to transact with bitcoins at a POS terminal must simply show their QR codes and initiate the payment process. BitPay believes the new collaboration with Ingenico offers Bitcoin a chance to make the digital currency available on a global scale. The project is a first, allowing devices to receive the virtual money through Ingenico’s colossal network. The new terminal integration will introduce Bitcoin to retail chains and small stores worldwide, which both companies feel is quite exciting. Miguel Angel Hernandez, Managing Director of Ingenico Iberia, said, “Participating in such an important project has allowed Ingenico Group to demonstrate its leadership in the payment space and bring a safe and secure payment method like virtual currency to the end user.”

Bitcoin.com will follow this story for developments and reviews regarding these new POS devices.

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