Electronic Payments Association CEO makes a bold statement: Bitcoin startup collaborations have only just begun, and BitPay has already entered the market first.

Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), representing industry giants such as Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, said that Bitcoin’s disruptive potential is now being recognized by the industry, and that collaborations between traditional payment providers and Bitcoin startups will only increase.
(Background: PayPal’s chief financial officer said that Bitcoin could become a popular payment tool in the future.)
(Background addition: The global Fortune 500 IC channel distribution leader, partnering with BitPay to “officially accept Bitcoin payments”)

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• BitPay is the first to join, and the payment giants open the door
• Early education by the Bitcoin Foundation played an important role
• Not biased against Bitcoin, but also not ignoring it
• A regulatory note: don’t rush to shoehorn rules

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), representing payment giants such as Visa, MasterCard, Amazon, and PayPal, is no longer treating Bitcoin as mere background noise. In an interview with CoinDesk, the association’s CEO Jason Oxman said that the traditional electronic payments industry is seeing Bitcoin’s disruptive potential, and collaboration with Bitcoin startups will become more and more frequent.

BitPay is the first to join, and the payment giants open the door

In August 2014, the ETA announced that it would accept BitPay as the first Bitcoin payment company to become a member. Headquartered in Atlanta, the Bitcoin payment solutions provider was the first virtual currency company to formally join the association. In the announcement, the ETA made it clear that it “expects more collaborations of this kind in the future.”

Using BitPay’s admission as an example, Oxman emphasized that the ETA “will not turn a blind eye to innovation,” and said the association is shaping an image of being “willing to cooperate with new technology startups,” which naturally includes Bitcoin-related businesses. He added that which potential partners to choose largely depends on market demand:

“In essence, what our industry does is facilitate electronic transactions, and those electronic transactions take the form that customers or merchants deem most appropriate.”

Early education by the Bitcoin Foundation played an important role

Oxman pointed out that the Bitcoin Foundation played a key role in helping the ETA understand Bitcoin’s advantages. He specifically mentioned a talk at an ETA event by Patrick Murck, the Bitcoin Foundation’s general counsel in 2013: Murck succeeded in bringing the business case for Bitcoin into the association’s viewpoint, prompting members to begin seeing Bitcoin as an “interesting development in the industry.”

This also explains why BitPay was only the beginning—once the association’s internal understanding shifted, more Bitcoin startups entering became an inevitable next step.

Not biased against Bitcoin, but also not ignoring it

Oxman emphasized that the ETA is not biased toward Bitcoin, nor does it take a negative stance toward other technologies; its support covers all forms of electronic transactions. However, he also noted that the competitive landscape of the payments industry is changing:

• Traditional payments: Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and others have already built massive transaction networks
• Bitcoin payments: Startups such as BitPay and Coinbase Commerce provide instant settlement and cross-border zero-friction payments
• Hybrid models: More and more payment processors are accepting both fiat currency and cryptocurrencies

Against the backdrop of the Taiwan market, convenience stores and supermarkets have already fully supported digital wallets and mobile payments, but Bitcoin payments still remain at the stage of exchange-to-withdrawal. The ETA’s open posture suggests that the possibility of integrating Bitcoin into traditional payment channels in the future is increasing.

A regulatory note: don’t rush to shoehorn rules

Oxman also offered observations on the BitLicense proposal from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). He said that what regulators care about when regulating any new payment technology is consumer protection, but they “should not reflexively apply rules just because something is new.” He suggested that regulators should gain a deep understanding of how Bitcoin systems work, how blockchain operates, and how Bitcoin processors protect consumers and merchants.

This viewpoint is also worth other countries’ regulators considering. The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulations being promoted by Taiwan’s central bank are also primarily based on “regulate first, verify later,” lacking deep investigation into the blockchain mechanism itself. Oxman’s reminder applies equally to countries that are drafting cryptocurrency policies.