Protonmail's Beta Version Enables Automated Bitcoin Payments

A year ago the popular encrypted email provider, Protonmail, launched its desktop, Android, and iOS platforms that feature end-to-end encryption. The company offers a free service for users but also provides premium features for those wanting to pay for better privacy and more storage. Now Protonmail has revealed that automated bitcoin payments are coming soon and users can test the feature through the startup’s beta version.

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Protonmail Offers Automated Bitcoin Payments Through Beta Platform With Full Release Coming Soon

These days privacy is a very hot subject and many bitcoin users believe privacy is of utmost importance. A service that offers a privacy centric email platform called Protonmail uses client-side encryption and the startup’s servers are positioned outside of the U.S. and EU jurisdictions. The email provider provides a free service that gives users the ability to send end-to-end encrypted emails and hold 500MB of storage. However, the company also offers premium services, which provide up to 20GB of storage, and VPN access. This week Protonmail announced automated bitcoin payments for premium users would be coming in the near future.

“Automated bitcoin payments are coming soon! You can test it out already at beta.protonmail.com,” explains the privacy centric email provider.

Protonmail details that if individuals want to keep their payment history out of sight from their banks, then bitcoin is the best choice. Those who want to pay for a premium Protonmail account with bitcoin can use their existing free account or sign up for a new account and head to the “upgrade” section within the dashboard. After selecting a premium account users can then choose “bitcoin” as a payment method, and a BTC address and QR code will appear so the payment can be processed.

The Hottest Startup in Switzerland Has a Long History With Bitcoin

In an interview last year, Protonmail co-founder Andy Yen said his company and bitcoin have always had a good relationship.

“Protonmail and bitcoin actually have a long history together — Back in 2014 when PayPal instituted a payment block against us, we relied on BTC donations to keep the service running.”

As of January 2017, Protonmail has seen exponential growth and is known for being one of the hottest startups in Switzerland. The company started as an invitation-only encrypted email provider and now has over 2 million users worldwide. As of right now paying with bitcoin for an initial premium sign up is not available and current options are SMS or credit card payments. The feature can be tested using the beta version and is currently only available for the desktop Protonmail platform.

**Update, August 16: Since this post was published Protonmail has announced full bitcoin support for software version 3.11.**

What do you think about Protonmail offering automated bitcoin payments in the near future? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock and Protonmail.

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