This week our payment provider BitPay start a staged rollout using Payment Protocol Payment. In the coming days, all BitPay invoices will require Bitcoin Payment Protocol payments.
Why Payment Protocol?
Payment Protocol eliminates user error in bitcoin payments.
When a bitcoin user scans a BitPay invoice with a wallet that supports the Payment Protocol, their wallet is automatically locked in with the correct bitcoin receiving address and sending amount.
Instead of copying and pasting a bitcoin address and entering any BTC amount, customers simply click or copy/paste a payment protocol URL on a BitPay invoice. If their wallet also "speaks" Payment Protocol, the correct receiving bitcoin address and the correct sending amount are locked in automatically.
The Payment Protocol will also allow BitPays servers to reject any incoming payments sent with incorrect amounts, or payments which will not confirm on the Bitcoin network in a timely way.
With new Payment Protocol requirement, BitPay invoices will not accept incoming bitcoin payments unless they will complete successfully.
What will this change if I'm paying a BitPay merchant?
If you are using the BitPay, Copay, Mycelium, Bitcoin Core, or Electrum wallets for your bitcoin payments, nothing will change. These true bitcoin wallets all already "speak" Payment Protocol. If you are using a non-Payment Protocol wallet or service to pay BitPay invoices, you will need to move your spending bitcoin to a wallet or service which can support Payment Protocol. We strongly recommend that you use a true bitcoin wallet for spending to avoid delayed transactions, but you will be able to use any service compatible with Payment Protocol.