CoinDesk
The bitcoin payments startup OpenNode just gained access to Apple Pay, according to the startup’s head of marketing, Ryan Flowers.
This could be a boon for the small subset of merchants who want to hold bitcoin, because it allows people to spend dollars through their regular fintech accounts yet still have those dollars exchanged to bitcoin for the merchant to receive.
The customer’s fiat payment goes through OpenNode’s partner, Wyre, converting to bitcoin (BTC) and depositing in the merchant’s wallet. Merchants can sign up to be part of the private feature release, currently in beta, before it goes live across the platform in a few months.
“They [shoppers] put the card information into the widget that OpenNode is using, in some cases the card information may already be stored, for example with your Apple Pay,” said Jack Jia, Wyre’s director of institutional sales. “So all the user does is click the ‘Buy with Apple Pay’ button” to make a purchase with fiat that the merchant receives as bitcoin.
