Is It Possible To Pay Bills With Crypto?

With SwapinPay, it is now possible for businesses and individuals to pay bills and other obligations with crypto-to-fiat capability.

In 2023, consumers are looking to pay bills in a variety of interoperable ways. The days of paying with just a credit or debit card are over. This becomes more apparent as we see the integration of payment widgets, buy now pay later schemes, and even crypto-enabled bill payment options.

 But how viable is paying bills with crypto, is it cost efficient for the end user, and what fees might you expect to pay? But first, what are the available methods to pay bills with Bitcoin and popular cryptocurrencies?

Different Ways To Pay In Crypto

Several different crypto debit cards, crypt-to-fiat exchange platforms and crypto payment solutions have been created and launched over the past couple of years alone. Some platforms promote bill payment services based on crypto-aligned debit cards leveraged with major payment processors such as Visa or Mastercard.

Other platforms promote and offer more direct methods which claim to enable users to make direct payments directly from the platform itself. There are several different methods of using crypto to pay bills and other obligations. Some differ in their implementation, fees, and user friendliness.

Paying Bills With Crypto Cards

One of the most common ways to utilize crypto to pay bills and integrate with the traditional finance sector is via debit or even credit cards. Crypto.com, Binance, Coinbase and several other crypto trading, exchange and swapping platforms have launched their own versions of cryptocurrency-enabled debit cards during the span of the last 2-3 years and even earlier. Wirex, which launched its platform in 2014, introduced its first visa-backed crypto debit card as far back as 2015.

The most common method which allows this proposition to persist is users paying for their transactions and purchases, or bills with their own cryptocurrency held on the exchange or trading platform. From there, users are enabled to utilize a card issued to them for payments with whichever merchants or businesses accept the specified processor. Wirex and Crypto.com utilize Visa, while Binance leverages the Simplex payment processing platform but is also accepted with merchants and businesses who accept Visa, while the platform Bitpay is aligned with Mastercard.

Pros To Utilizing Crypto Debit And Credit Card Processors

There are some advantages to using crypto-backed debit and credit cards for expenses and bill pay. One of the most attractive features is perhaps the cash back rewards that are generated for registered card users. Since cryptocurrency is still in an early phase of adoption from a global viewpoint, elevated and enhanced incentives still exist in most instances. This is a positive when companies are looking to attract more liquidity into the market as a whole.

While many traditional banking institutions offer rewards and cash back on credit card purchases for more qualified card holders, it is not the most common occurrence to locate traditional companies willing to offer cashback on debit card purchases. Many of the existing cash back rewards on debit card purchases with major institutions range from about 1-2%. In crypto there are major platforms with propositions that yield anywhere from 4-8% in some instances.

Potential Challenges With Using Crypto Cards

While there are certainly perks to be mentioned and considered, there are also some disadvantages to crypto cards. The main challenges would be restrictions with card use. While many are supported and accepted where major processors are accepted, there may still be territorial or even platform-based challenges with usage. This means for instance, a card issued by a EU regulated entity may be supported by Visa, however US and other location-based customers may not have access.

One other challenge can be limited supported cryptocurrencies. Some platforms require users to hold the network token in order to receive any rewards. There are also some platforms that limit users to Bitcoin, or only a few popular cryptocurrencies, for different reasons.

Another challenge met by crypto card users are transaction fees. Some processors charge fees for normal debit or credit card use on every transaction, while some charge monthly or even annual fees. There can be fees if the card is not used at a particular frequency as well. Fees for cash withdrawal can also be significant. So for debit card purchases the card may be fine, but if users need to withdraw cash to pay any forms of bills in person, they may need to be prepared to pay a significant fee for doing so.

Using A Crypto-To-Fiat Payment Platform

Over the past couple of years crypto-to-fiat payment solutions have become more prevalent in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Companies like Swapin have come about to make serious gains in users' ability to pay bills and use crypto-to-fiat based services for all manner of personal and business transactions as well as many real life uses. In fact, Swapin has a solution referred to as SwapinPay which is specifically designed for individuals and business entities to send crypto-to-fiat payments for bills and other transactions.

Platforms like Swapin seem to be breaking ground and venturing into territory that has not yet been explored until now. The ability to pay bills without needing the intermediary of a card or some other linking tool can present a seamless new way for crypto enthusiasts to pay bills using cryptocurrency, just the same as individuals or businesses that may be new to crypto altogether.

Automated Crypto-To-Fiat Transactions

What Swapin does is gives KYC users the ability to pay from crypto to fiat without needing to do the conversions manually themselves. 95% of crypto-to-fiat transfers are completed within 5 minutes, with the fiat amount being automatically converted in the process. By utilizing a platform like Swapin, users can pay bills directly to merchants and companies without them ever having to know that the transaction originated in Bitcoin, Ethereum or any one of eleven other cryptocurrencies the platform enables at the time of writing.

Swapin and platforms like it are clearing the path for the future of crypto payments. In doing so, crypto is already able to be used to pay bills directly from crypto-converted-to-fiat seamlessly. It will be interesting to see how the technology continues to unfold and enable an even more integrated future between the traditional and digital finance sectors.