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Payments provider Aliant Payment Systems now offers Bitcoin acceptance for merchants through a deal with BitPay Inc., a Bitcoin processor, Aliant announced Monday.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Aliant says the relationship makes it one of the first payment-processing companies to offer merchants Bitcoin acceptance.
It is doing this, in part, because earlier this year it formed a deal with Merchant e-Solutions that enabled Aliant to expand the number of merchants it could serve with higher annual processing volumes, such as those in e-commerce, travel, and business-to-business segments.
These merchants may be more likely to face credit card fraud. Bitcoin acceptance may mitigate some of that risk because chargebacks are not possible with Bitcoin transactions.
“We look forward to showing merchants what bitcoin can do for online payments and what BitPay is doing for businesses transferring value globally,” Eric Brown, Aliant chief executive, said in a press release.
Some merchants, too, are eyeing the increased value of Bitcoin, at more than $3,900 each. Last week, Old Road Harley-Davidson, Santa Clarita, Calif., said it was preparing to accept the digital currency using BitPay. Estimates are that approximately 100,000 merchants globally accept Bitcoin.
