dtcpay to Stop Supporting Bitcoin and Ethereum, Transition to Stablecoins by 2025
dtcpay, a prominent cryptocurrency payment platform in Asia, will cease support for Bitcoin #BTC and Ethereum #ETH payments by the end of 2024. The company will shift its focus solely to stablecoins.
Beginning January 2025, dtcpay will prioritize stablecoins such as Tether USD #USDT, USD Coin #USDC, First Digital USD #FDUSD, and Worldwide USD (WUSD). These tokens, pegged to fiat currencies like the US dollar, provide stability often absent in traditional cryptocurrencies.
Transitioning Away from Volatile Assets
Since launching in October 2019 under a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), dtcpay has facilitated Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions and developed fiat-to-crypto payment systems. The firm is now pivoting away from "volatile cryptocurrencies" due to their unpredictable price fluctuations, aiming to meet the demand for reliability in digital transactions with stablecoins.
According to a company statement, dtcpay announced that starting January 2025, it will exclusively support stablecoins for all Digital Payment Token (DPT) services. Support for Bitcoin and Ethereum will be phased out by the end of 2024, while other stablecoin and fiat currency services will continue.
dtcpay's decision to focus on stablecoins stems from their global acceptability, regulatory compliance, and stability backed by national reserve assets.
A Strategic Partnership for Seamless Transactions
The transition responds to consumer demand, highlighted by a Chainalysis report indicating that crypto payments using stablecoins in Singapore approached $1 billion in Q2 2024, primarily from merchant transactions. This trend underscores the preference for stablecoins over Bitcoin for payments.
To facilitate this transition, dtcpay has partnered with Singapore’s NETS SGQR+ initiative, an upgraded version of the SGQR system aimed at enhancing payment interoperability. This collaboration enables dtcpay to integrate stablecoin-to-fiat capabilities into a unified QR code system, allowing merchants to accept various payment options, including local wallets and international schemes like AliPay+ and WeChat.
As part of its new business model, dtcpay noted its achievements in 2024, including being ranked the best Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Singapore in August and receiving recognition as the best multi-currency swap platform for 2024 by PAN Finance.