Home / Capital & Crypto / Bitcoin Service Bitwala Partners ShapeShift to Enable Altcoin Transfers Globally

Bitcoin Service Bitwala Partners ShapeShift to Enable Altcoin Transfers Globally

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:50 PM
Lester Coleman
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:50 PM

Bitwala, a crypto-to-SEPA service that allows fiat currency transfers towards settlements from users who pay in bitcoin, ether and other crypto, has teamed with ShapeShift.io to allow customers to make payments, transfer funds and top up their debit cards using altcoins in addition to bitcoin.

Customers will be able to send funds globally by paying the altcoin equivalent of the payment or transfer. The exchange incurs a 0.5% fee, which Bitwala considers the lowest fee available at present.

The integration supports numerous altcoins, including Ether, Litecoin, and Dash.

ShapeShift: Global Transfers Expand

Erik Voorhees, ShapShift.io CEO, said all leading digital currencies can fund SEPA transfers. He said ShapeShift.io welcomes the chance to provide the service in Europe. He said one of the best early uses of cryptocurrency is to be able to instantly move funds among countries.

 

“Bitwala is one of the premier services for European SEPA transfers, and now every major blockchain asset is a funding method,” he said.

“We got a lot of requests every month for all kinds of altcoins,” Jorg von Minckwitz, Bitwala founder and CEO, told CCN.com. He said the most commonly requested altcoins have been Ethereum, Dogecoin and Dash.

Bitwala High On Ethereum

Minckwitz pins especially high hopes on Ethereum. “I think Ethereum will be the most used on our platform,” he said. “We can already indicate that from the number of people who are asking for an altcoin. There was huge interest for Ethereum.”

Minckwitz defined Bitwala as a bridge between modern and traditional banking that is accessible and secure for anyone seeking to integrate cryptocurrencies in their daily finances.

Minckwitz noted that Bitwala will make its email payment service, EmailPay, available for all of the altcoins it supports. Bitwala introduced EmailPay last year.

An EmailPay user only needs the email address of the recipient and the amount of money they wish to send. Users can send payments up to whatever amount they are authorized. Fully-registered Bitwala users can transfer up to 50 000€ per month. Bitwala expected most people to use EmailPay for paying utilities.

Also read: BBTC email payment comes to Europe

EmailPay Brings More Benefits

EmailPay expanded on the benefits of Bitwala’s QuickPay feature, CCN.com reported. Quickpay eliminated logins and passwords associated with paying bills through the Bitwala platform.

Minckwitz said the cryptocurrencies Bitwala supports have all proven themselves, strong performers.

“We chose Shapeshift because they have the most advanced platform, their API is straightforward, we know Erik personally and have followed him for many years,” Minckwitz said. “We simply trust Shapeshift and Erik.”

BitPay recently endorsed ShapeShift in a blog post that described how one could use ShapeShift to pay for things in crypto-currencies other than bitcoin through BitPay, CCN.com reported.

Featured image from Shutterstock.