AT&T to accept Bitcoin for bill payments, community reaction is mixed
- AT&T and BitPay partnership to allow users to pay their mobile bills with Bitcoin.
- Some members of the crypto community feel that this doesn’t count as mainstream adoption.
Major telecom giant AT&T announced a partnership with crypto payment processor BitPay, which will allow their US-based users to pay their mobile bills with Bitcoin. Kevin McDorman, vice president, AT&T Communications Finance Business Operation, said:
“We’re always looking for ways to improve and expand our services. We have customers who use cryptocurrency, and we are happy we can offer them a way to pay their bills with the method they prefer.”
Users will be able to select BitPay as a payment option when they log on to their accounts online or with the “myAT&T” app.
Reaction from community
The reactions from the crypto community have been mixed. Morgan Creek Digital’s Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano and Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao were optimistic about the news.
Pomp:
“AT&T just announced that they will now accept Bitcoin for bill payments.
There are only 21 million.
Everyone is trying to accumulate Bitcoin”
CZ:
“Not a small company, not a small user base. It's spreading...”
However, some have been pretty pessimistic about the news. The main point of contention is that At&T is not exactly accepting Bitcoin, BitPay is. BitPay will convert Bitcoin to Fiat, which will then be received by AT&T.
Omar Bham aka Crypt0:
“Unpopular truth: AT&T isn't accepting Bitcoin. Bitpay is. They sell the BTC for dollars, and that's what AT&T gets.
We need businesses that want REAL crypto. I understand volatility concerns, but that's why DAI exists :)”
Bryant Eisenbach:
“AT&T just announced that you can now use BitPay for bill payments. Cool!
They're not holding Bitcoin though. It's getting sold back to fiat.
It's basically them saying "Enough of our customers own cryptocurrency that we should probably accept Bitcoin."
So, adoption? ♂️”
BTC/USD daily chart
- BTC/USD is currently trading for $7,892.
- The price has moved away from the upper curve of the 20-day Bollinger band which shows slightly bearish sentiment.
- The nearest support and resistance levels are at $7,768 and $8000, respectively.
- The moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) indicator shows bearish momentum as the signal line and MACD lines converge.
- The relative strength index (RSI) indicator is trending next to the overbought zone at 65.60.
Author
Rajarshi Mitra
Independent Analyst
Rajarshi entered the blockchain space in 2016. He is a blockchain researcher who has worked for Blockgeeks and has done research work for several ICOs. He gets regularly invited to give talks on the blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
