Now, it is even easier to make payments using bitcoin thanks to the introduction of a new merchant app, released by BitPay

With the introduction of one-touch bitcoin payments, it will now be possible to reduce lines and make payment processing easier for both merchants and customers. "Bitcoin Checkout" made its debut during the Money 20/20 conference recently in Las Vegas. BitPay takes the lead as the first bitcoin merchant processor to make one-touch payments available at the point of sale. Designed to provide a seamless purchasing experience, all customers need to do is hold their smartphone or tablet over the point-of-sale device and then submit their virtual currency with just a single touch. The process works through the use of near-field communication (NFC) technology.

Currently, a number of bitcoin wallet developers have yet to enable near-field communication technology, which means that the list of wallets to make use of one-touch payments will likely grow in the future as more developers make the decision to enable NFC technology.

While the app will technically work with any bitcoin wallet on any type of device, in order to take advantage of the NFC functionality, the app will actually only function on Android devices. This is in large part due to the fact that Apple has closed the NFC capability to any app but Apple Pay. In this regard, BitPay could serve as a viable alternative to Apple Pay.

Currently, BitPay serves as the leading bitcoin payment processor. Earlier this year, BitPay announced the completion of $30 million in Series A funding. This brought the startup a total investment of $32.7 million. Among the investors taking part in the round were Richard Branson and co-founder of Yahoo, Jerry Yang. ¹

BitPay specializes in establishing merchant accounts that are capable of accepting bitcoin payments. To date, BitPay services more than 30,000 merchants around the world, although this number is increasing at an exponential rate. In 2012, BitPay serviced only 1,000 accounts. Within a year, that number had grown to 10,000 merchants. BitPay is currently processing approximately $1 million in bitcoin transactions on a daily basis. Most of the merchants making use of BitPay are small businesses that are anxious to take advantage of the faster service, lower transaction fees, and increased security offered by bitcoin payments.

Due to the significant growth the company has experienced, BitPay has recently expanded their operations and has opened offices in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and Amsterdam, in addition to their headquarters in Atlanta Georgia. Those offices will come in handy. While half of their merchants are located in the U.S., 30 percent are based in the European Union, with the remaining merchants located throughout the rest of the world. Based on the firm's current growth trajectory, they expect to have around 100,000 merchants signed up by the end of the year.

Recently, BitPay announced that they have integrated with Xsolla, a billing platform that has worked with game developers in the past to improve conversion. Gaming companies such as Nexon and Twitch have already begun to accept bitcoin for in-game payments. Currently, more than 100,000 bitcoin transactions are made on a daily basis. Recently, numerous gaming companies have made the decision to bring bitcoin onboard, including Bigpoint Games, which partnered with BitPay last year.

As BitPay continues to evolve and expand, the ability to make payments using bitcoin will likely become increasingly easier, thus positioning bitcoin to for even more widespread mainstream acceptance.

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1) Forbes. BitPay Is Headed To The Moon And Richard Branson Is On The Spaceship
http://www.forbes.com/sites/perianneboring/2014/05/13/bitpay-is-headed-to-the-moon-and-richard-branson-is-on-the-spaceship/