BitPay, the world’s largest cryptocurrency payment service provider, has announced that it will be joining Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a Square-founded patent effort for crypto.
Since 2011, BitPay has been working with blockchain products, and with its partnership with the organization, they will share open-source projects and use a shared-patent library, taking advantage of its open-access to patents.
BitPay founder and chief executive officer Stephen Pair said that he believes partnering with COPA is a step forward towards innovation. He explained that they joined the organization because the blockchain space is at an “inflection point” where crypto is becoming mainstream.
The COPA board chair
The non-profit patent organization COPA is made up of many different companies.
This includes Coinbase, who joined just last year, Bitbank, Satoshi Labs, Ark.io, Blockchain Commons, Kaken, Stacks, Square, MicroStragety and Stakenet.
Kirupa Pushparaj, COPA’s Board Chair, said that organizations with or without patents could join them. He added that they acknowledge the fact that cryptocurrency technology is built on the collaborative efforts of a community composed of developers, engineers, and designers.
COPA wants to eliminate barriers to innovation instead of letting patents become a barrier itself.
Welcome, BitPay
BitPay primarily offers blockchain payment processing that enables borderless payments through various digital currencies. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE) and stable coins USDC, GUSD, PAX and BUSD.
BitPay’s business solutions help their clients in eliminating fraud in transactions while also reducing the cost of payment processing, in addition to providing the earlier mentioned services. The company also offers digital asset management solutions for its customers through their BitPay Wallet app and Prepaid Master Card. This helps turn digital assets into real dollars.
Pushparaj, in welcoming BitPay into COPA, said that they are grateful for their contributions to the blockchain and payment space.
Image courtesy of BitPay/YouTube Screenshot