Bitpay And Ingenico Enabling Global Bitcoin Point Of Sale Payments

The world’s largest bitcoin merchant payment network, BitPay, and the world’s largest payment systems provider, France-based Ingenico Group, have announced a new collaboration, allowing brick and mortar stores around the world to accept bitcoin payments through Ingenico Point Of Sale (POS) devices.

"This integration will help us expand bitcoin payments to thousands of retail payment terminals worldwide."
— – Tony Gallippi, BitPay Executive Chairman

POS terminals enable retailers and firms to accept a wide range of non-cash payment types, traditionally credit and debit cards, at millions of locations worldwide. With Bitpay integration, Ingenico’s customers, namely banks and retail merchants, can now easily accept bitcoin on a global scale, using Ingenico’s POS terminals, in store, online and mobile payments.

As a part of the global shift away from physical money and antiquated banking systems, POS terminals are becoming more and more common in all parts of the world, and their market has witnessed considerable growth in recent years, owing to ease of use and improved return on investment offered by these systems.

Prior to the partnership with Bitpay, Ingenico previously offered bitcoin payment POS to brick and mortar European merchants through a partnership with with Paymium. Using Ingenico’s Telium Tetra terminals, European merchants have been able to accept bitcoin payments since january, although bitcoins collected through them were immediately converted to Euros.

Bitpay’s solution provides much wider distribution, however, allowing between 30% and 45% of the merchants and banks on planet, regardless of country, the ability to accept bitcoin easily with very little training and no new equipment costs.

"We are excited to partner with Ingenico Group, one of the leading payment processors in both physical and online commerce."
— – Gallippi

The global payment terminal market is consolidated around two key players; Ingenico and Verifone. In 2014, Ingenico Group consolidated its position as leader of the payment terminal market, with an estimated global market share of around 45 percent and nearly 27 million terminals installed worldwide. According to Ingenico and Verifone, the two companies represented about 80-85 percent of the total market value in 2014.

According to independent numbers from Pymnts.com, more than half of the POS devices in the US are made by Verifone, while Ingenico has the clear lead globally, with over 30% of the world market compared to Verifone’s 18%.

“Participating in such an important project has allowed Ingenico Group to demonstrate its leadership in the payment space and bring a safe and secure payment method like virtual currency to the end user."
— – Miguel Angel Hernandez, Managing Director of Ingenico Iberia

Ingenico Group claims to have more than 160,000 customers and provides services to more over 1,000 banks. The company says its payment services are offered in 170 countries, providing a comprehensive range of payment solutions in-store, online and on mobile, as they attempt to enable merchants to accept every possible payment method and increase their sales conversion rate.

Using the system is simple. Customers can pay using bitcoin in three simple steps. First, the merchant enters the amount of the order in his local currency. The device shows a QR code with the corresponding bitcoin amount, which the customer then scans to pay with his mobile phone.

A demonstration of the Bitcoin payment option integration was provided as part of the Blockchain Week event in Barcelona, on October 6. Bitpay developed the software, which was installed in an Ingenico terminal.

"At Ingenico our mission is to be at the forefront of any payment method and to provide secure transactions for both the merchant and the end customer.”
— – Angel Hernandez

The company reported €1.607 million revenue in 2014, giving them a market capitalization of €6.2 billion. Their total revenue included €1,259 million generated by the Payment Terminal business and €348 million generated by Payment Services.

According to Swedish market research firm Berg Insight, the global installed base of POS terminals grew by 11 percent in 2014, to 75 million units. This market growth is primarily fuelled by the increasing adoption of electronic payments in emerging markets.

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