BitPay, a Bitcoin payment processor based out of Atlanta, signed up its 10,000 merchant in September. That’s 10,000 businesses now able to accept Bitcoin.
The two-year-old company has had a big year. Ninety percent of its merchants have signed up in the last year, mirroring the currency’s own ascent.
Half of the company’s merchants are in North America with another quarter in Europe. All told, its base of merchants cover 164 countries.
Among its biggest clients are WordPress and Gyft, a gift card swapping site.
BitPay CEO Tony Gallippi said that his company’s payment processor is a boon to merchants who sell expensive items such as jewelry and Bitcoin mining racks. These are exactly the kinds of merchants people buy from with stolen credit cards, so Bitcoin payments can secure businesses from that risk somewhat.
The company processes between $6 million and $7 million in sales each month.
A new feature on BitPay allows users to import their entire transaction history into Quickbooks.
BitPay received a $2 million funding round in May that was led by the Founders Fund. Partners in that fund were early investors in Facebook and PayPal, among other companies.
BitPay’s biggest competitors in its space include Coinbase, a Bay Area startup that charges zero fees for the first $1 million a merchant processes, and Danish company BIPS.
BIPS’s website says it currently has 20,000 customers, and it is currently developing new features that will allow US customers to use the service.