In case you haven’t noticed, Bitcoin’s having a bit of a moment. The cryptocurrency’s value reached record heights in recent weeks, you’ll soon be able to buy a Tesla with it, and, as of Friday, you can now spend Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) via Apple Pay.
BitPay, a popular cryptocurrency payment processing service, has announced that its Prepaid Mastercard users in the U.S. can now link their card with Apple Wallet and use bitcoin to finance their online shopping sprees wherever Apple Pay is accepted globally. You can add your BitPay card to Apple Wallet via the BitPay Wallet app (you’ll need the most recently updated version), which supports a range of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Gemini Dollar, USD Coin, Paxos Standard, and Binance USD.
The company plans to roll out support for Google Pay and Samsung Pay by the end of March, CNET reports.
“We have thousands of BitPay Wallet app customers using the BitPay Card,” BitPay CEO Stephen Pair said in a statement to the outlet. “Adding Apple Pay and soon Google and Samsung Pay makes it easy and convenient to use the BitPay Card in more places.”
The news that Apple Pay will now be integrating some bitcoin payments follows an analysis released earlier this week that suggested Apple, whose virtual payment service is already used by millions, could potentially generate up to $US40 ($52) billion per year by getting into the cryptocurrency business, per the Canadian brokerage firm RBC Capital Markets.
Financial experts are divided on whether bitcoin’s recent windfall will continue or if it’s just overpriced speculation, but regardless Apple seems raring to hop on the hype train.