Global crypto payment provider BitPay has announced the OneGold precious metals and the digital gold marketplace is now accepting Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, according to a press release.

OneGold — founded by APMEX, a leading precious metals retailer, and Sprott, an alternative asset manager — is focused on giving investors the ability to combine the “key benefits of physical gold and silver with those of blockchain-based digital assets.”

OneGold CEO Ken Lewis indicated that adding Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to the payment roster boosts “transparency and efficiency.”

He projected that the added options would lead to a positive response from “a large number of cryptocurrency buyers from international markets, where accepting credit cards is not always practical.”

Fostering Transparency And Payment Security

In the press release, BitPay Chief Commercial Officer Sonny Singh said that cryptocurrency is “an ideal payment method for e-commerce and precious metals” due to risks of fraud and identity theft related to the use of credit cards. Chargebacks, he noted, cost merchants nearly $19 billion last year.

Cryptocurrency is touted by some as a solution to these types of issues since each transaction is recorded and stored on the blockchain with a lack of sensitive information.

In March 2016, JM Bullion said customers could use Bitcoin to purchase gold and silver through BitPay. The bullion company indicated at the time they would give a four percent discount to those who used the cryptocurrency for payment.

OneGold maintains the ability to take fiat or cryptocurrency, or any combination of the two, as payment. The company is also protected from Bitcoin price swings through BitPay.

All digital precious metals available through OneGold are allocated to physical precious metals held inside of the Royal Canadian Mint.

BitPay Positions Itself For The Future

The recent announcement by BitPay follows in the footsteps of a few other notable activities by the company over the last few weeks.

About a month ago, BitPay indicated they were backing the Bitcoin Cash ABC side in regards to the recent BCH hard fork. The decision meant BitPay joined alongside industry leaders like Coinbase and Binance in support of the ABC side.

Later in November, COO Sonny Singh expressed optimism that 2019 would be a good year for the cryptocurrency market in an interview on Bloomberg TV. He conveyed a belief that the crypto market would start to turn a corner during the first half of next year as big companies like Fidelity started to release cryptocurrency products.

He also speculated that approval of the first Bitcoin ETF, if it were to happen, would lead to a sharp rise in the Bitcoin price heading into the latter part of 2019.

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