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Cryptocurrency’s steady march toward becoming a mainstream payment option took another step with Sling TV’s acceptance of seven digital currencies and five stablecoins through BitPay Inc.
The deal, announced Monday, will enable existing subscribers of the streaming television service to pay their monthly subscription fee with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Sling TV is operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dish Network, which began accepting Bitcoin in 2014.
“We feel cryptocurrency is becoming a mainstream payment option, if it hasn’t already, so the time is right for consumers to be using it to pay for products and services they use every day, such as Sling TV,” says Merrick Theobald, vice president of marketing for BitPay. “The Dish Network was an early adopter of cryptocurrency and this is a natural extension for them.”
Existing Sling TV subscribers will have the option to prepay for one month or up to six months at a time using their BitPay wallet. Once the subscription ends, customers can repeat the prepayment process or allow their account to be billed using the payment method on file, which is usually a credit or debit card. New Sling TV subscribers must open an account using a traditional payment method for one month before they can pay with cryptocurrency. After the first month, those subscribers will have the option to pay using their BitPay wallet. Sling subscribers can use the wallet found in the BitPay app or any other popular crypto wallet app.
In addition to accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin, Sling TV will accept Bitcoin Cash, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Shiba Inu Coin, and five stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar: Gemini Dollar, USD Coin, Pax Dollar, DAI and Binance USD. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that peg their market value to a reserve asset, such as a government-backed fiat currency like the U.S. dollar.
Two factors helping drive the adoption of cryptocurrency as a mainstream payment option are the lower cost of acceptance for merchants and faster transaction times, Theobald says. “Cryptocurrency is a very good payment option for cross-border transactions because transactions can be completed in minutes versus days,” adds Theobald. That’s a huge benefit.”
BitPay says it supports cryptocurrency acceptance for thousands of merchants globally including five of the Top 100 e-commerce merchants.
