BitPay Integrates Brave Wallet Amid ‘Strong Interest’ From Major Retailers, Brands

Bitcoin payment service provider – Bitpay – announced the integration of Brave Wallet into its payment protocol allowing crypto wallet users to make payments straight from the privacy browser.

According to the official press release shared with CryptoPotato, users of Brave Wallet will be able to shop with crypto at thousands of top merchants online and in-store, such as Newegg, APMEX, PacSun, AMC Theatres, and airBaltic.

Commenting on the development, BitPay CEO Stephen Pai said,

“BitPay applauds Brave’s adoption of the BitPay Protocol. With the hard work and dedication of the Brave team, we are able to promote payment quality online and in-store for both customers and merchants wanting to leverage the benefits of crypto payments.”

The latest development comes a month after the famous American fashion brand Ralph Lauren partnered with BitPay to accept Bitcoin payments at its new Miami Design District store.

Crypto Payment Surge in Bear Market

Litecoin and Bitcoin Lightning Network payments are showing impressive growth on BitPay’s platform this year. While speaking with CryptoPotato, the chief executive of the Atlanta-based payment processor revealed that Litecoin continued to make up about a quarter of BitPay transactions.

Despite an ongoing bear market, BitPay recorded a notable uptick in crypto payments in 2022. This trend appears to have continued in recent months as well. Pair observed a strong interest in accepting crypto payments by major retailers and brands, especially high-end brands, even during market turmoil.

“The crypto community is a passionate group that has shown time and time again that they are serious about spending their crypto, and the top brands and retailers are noticing.”

The company has processed over $1 million in BTC payments over Lightning since adding support for Bitcoin LN payments in April 2022.

BitPay Merchant Transaction Unaffected By Memecoin Craze

The ordinals craze was viewed as a blessing by the BTC miners as revenues shot up massively. But the spike in transactions of Ethereum-type tokens and NFT-like “inscriptions” drove average fees to as high as $30 on May 8 and 9 – levels not seen in the last two years – thereby adding to network congestion.

This increased Bitcoin network activity caused some surging miner fees for BitPay customers as well. However, the merchant transactions were largely unaffected, Pair said in a statement.