“With BitPay, we are able to implement a technology that allows our fans to make Kings-related purchases without physically reaching into their wallets. “We are maniacally focused on creating the most seamless experience for our fans in all facets,” he said in a statement.
In fact, team owner Vivek Ranadive has been pushing a bigger idea that he calls “NBA 3.0” - a concept of growing the team as a business by investing in technology, globalization and community partnerships. The BitPay solution will help towards first two of those: its Payment Gateway API will let the Kings accept payments in 150 currencies and provide next-day settlement on them. “They kicked it into fast mode and took less than a week to close the deal after they realised they could be the first sports team in the U.S. “They approached our booth at CES and had this idea, and said, we as a team want to be tech focused, so what can we do? They had a lot of questions but once we answered them, they were ready to move quickly,” he says. Gallippi says that he only met the Kings team last week during CES in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, those keen on accepting the currency for payments are jumping in with both feet. But when we have competitors who have raised $25 million and are using it for marketing, we may need to do more.” The reference there is to Coinbase, which picked up a $25 million round last month led by Andreessen Horowitz. “We don’t need the money because we’ve been capital efficient.
#Bitpay competitors series#
BitPay recently passed the $100 million processed mark, and Gallippi tells me the company has been profitable since March of last year - so much so that it wouldn’t have to raise any more money soon, except that it might turn to picking up a Series A to use for marketing. While Bitcoin has perhaps not broken through as a mainstream currency with the average consumer just yet, for those who are dealing in it, returns are looking promising. “Look at the overlap between the demographics of people with Bitcoin and what they want to buy,” Gallippi says. He won’t say who that is “to tip the hat of competitors” except to hint that it’s a well-known name in consumer electronics, which makes sense. “We are working with several other major brands and by the end of January we’ll have at least one more to announce,” he says. Tony Gallippi, co-founder and CEO of BitPay, tells me that the mass market run won’t end with the Kings, either. Just last week, Zynga started testing Bitcoin payments using BitPay on some of its web-based games.
To start accepting Bitcoin, the Kings have teamed up with BitPay, the startup that has aspirations to become the “PayPal for Bitcoin” by providing a processing platform for it and other virtual currencies.īacked by an impressive list of investors including the Founders Fund (the VC run, coincidentally, by several veterans of the so-called PayPal Mafia), Li Ka-shing from Horizons Ventures/Hutchison Whampoa and Shakil Khan, BitPay has been making decent inroads with mainstream brands that want to tap into some of the buzz around Bitcoin. People who visit the Kings’ physical retail store in Sacramento can already go in and pay for goods in Bitcoin in person online sales are due to start March 1.
#Bitpay competitors professional#
The Sacramento Kings basketball team has started to let fans pay for tickets and merchandise using the cryptocurrency - becoming the first professional sports team to hop on the Bitcoin bandwagon. Another step for Bitcoin entering mainstream commerce and consciousness.
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