Bitpay, the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payments company, has announced the launch of Bitpay Send, a new mass payout platform designed to help organizations send funds to employees, affiliates, freelance workers, contractors, and other recipients using blockchain-based payment rails. The move expands Bitpay’s role beyond merchant crypto payments and into business payroll and large-scale disbursement infrastructure.
The company said Bitpay Send is built for organizations of different sizes that want to streamline payouts, especially in situations where traditional banking channels can be slow, expensive, or difficult to access. By introducing a service focused on payroll and batch payments, Bitpay is targeting a practical use case for crypto in business operations rather than purely speculative or investment-driven activity.
A New Product Focused on Mass Payouts
According to the announcement, Bitpay Send is positioned as a mass payout service that allows businesses to send funds to a wide range of recipients. The platform can be used not only for employee payroll, but also for independent contractor payments, affiliate settlements, customer cash-out requests, rewards, rebates, and marketplace seller settlements.
Bitpay’s model is notable because the company says businesses can fund payments in fiat while using blockchain infrastructure to deliver the payout. That means companies do not need to directly buy, hold, or manage digital assets on their own balance sheets in order to use the system. Bitpay is emphasizing this structure as a way to reduce friction for businesses that are interested in crypto-enabled payments but do not want direct exposure to digital asset volatility or the operational burden of custody.
The company also said recipients do not need a bank account to receive funds through the platform. However, they must have access to a cryptocurrency wallet and possess a Bitpay ID. In addition, the announcement states that customers must provide the background information necessary to satisfy Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements.
Cross-Border Efficiency as a Key Selling Point
A central part of Bitpay’s pitch is the inefficiency of traditional international payment systems. In its statement, the company argued that legacy cross-border payment methods are often cumbersome, costly, and slow. By contrast, blockchain-based transfers can improve speed and reduce complexity when sending funds globally.
Bitpay disclosed that it will charge a 1% fee for processing cross-border payments. That pricing detail is important because international payroll and affiliate settlement are among the areas where organizations often face high banking fees, intermediary charges, and delays tied to local payment rails. Bitpay is framing Bitpay Send as a lower-friction alternative for those use cases.
Stephen Pair, CEO of Bitpay, said that adoption of blockchain payments is increasing because the technology provides an easier way to send and receive funds on a global scale. He added that with Bitpay Send, businesses can make mass payouts without having to buy, own, or manage crypto themselves, while recipients benefit from quicker and lower-cost payments.
Adgate Media Named as an Early User
Alongside the product launch, Bitpay said that Adgate Media is already using the new payout service. Adgate operates in the digital advertising affiliate sector, connecting with affiliates and rewarding users for engagement. Its use of Bitpay Send offers a concrete example of the type of business challenge the new product is intended to solve.
Dan Sapozhnikov, president of Adgate, said the company has many affiliates who wanted to be paid in bitcoin, particularly those located outside North America and Europe, where access to bank accounts can be more limited. He identified a major operational concern: Adgate did not want to buy and hold crypto directly, and Bitpay’s ability to manage that risk was an important factor in the company’s decision to adopt Bitpay Send.
Sapozhnikov also highlighted the speed advantage of the system, stating that with Bitpay Send, Adgate is able to get its affiliates paid in minutes rather than days. That comment underscores one of the main value propositions of blockchain-based payout infrastructure: reducing settlement times for geographically distributed recipients.
Supported Assets and Business Use Cases
Bitpay said the service supports payments in BTC, BCH, ETH, XRP, as well as several stablecoins. This gives businesses and recipients some flexibility in how payouts are made, whether the preference is for widely recognized cryptocurrencies or assets designed to reduce price volatility.
The company’s launch statement outlines a broad list of intended use cases. In addition to payroll, Bitpay Send can be used to facilitate customer withdrawals, pay independent contractors and affiliates, issue rebates and rewards, and settle funds with marketplace sellers. In effect, Bitpay is marketing the product as a general-purpose disbursement tool for any organization that needs to send payments to many recipients across jurisdictions.
Another element of the structure is that the company describes the payouts as pre-tax payments sent over blockchain rails. While the announcement does not provide a deeper compliance framework beyond KYC-related information requirements, the reference suggests that Bitpay is focused on the payment delivery layer rather than replacing employer tax or labor obligations.
Entering a Competitive Segment
With the introduction of Bitpay Send, Bitpay is moving into a segment where other crypto payroll and payout providers already operate. The article specifically notes that the service will compete with Bitwage, a company known for offering infrastructure that allows businesses to pay employees in digital assets such as BTC and BCH.
That competitive context matters because crypto payroll has remained a niche but persistent category within digital asset services. The appeal tends to be strongest among globally distributed teams, freelancers, affiliate networks, and workers in regions where access to banking infrastructure is limited or payment settlement is unreliable. Bitpay appears to be differentiating itself by emphasizing that businesses can use the system without directly handling or holding crypto.
This distinction may be especially relevant for firms that are interested in offering crypto-based compensation or payouts but are hesitant about treasury exposure, accounting complications, or custody risk. By acting as the intermediary that manages the crypto component, Bitpay is trying to lower the operational barrier for mainstream business adoption.
What the Launch Signals for Crypto Payments
The launch of Bitpay Send reflects a broader trend in the digital asset sector: a shift toward practical payment and settlement tools aimed at businesses. Rather than focusing solely on consumer wallet activity or trading, products like this seek to integrate blockchain into routine financial workflows such as payroll, affiliate commissions, and contractor compensation.
For organizations with international workforces or partner networks, the value proposition is relatively clear. If recipients can be paid faster, if payment access no longer depends entirely on local bank infrastructure, and if the sending company can avoid directly holding volatile digital assets, crypto-based payout rails become more compelling. The early use case involving Adgate Media reinforces this point by showing demand from affiliates who specifically want bitcoin payments.
At the same time, the model still requires recipients to have wallets and Bitpay IDs, and it remains subject to KYC requirements. Those factors mean adoption will depend not only on demand from businesses, but also on the readiness of recipients to interact with crypto payment tools. Even so, Bitpay’s expansion into payroll and mass disbursements signals that the company sees meaningful long-term opportunity in business-facing blockchain payment infrastructure.
In practical terms, Bitpay Send positions the company to serve a wider range of enterprise payment needs: salaries, contractor payments, affiliate rewards, customer payouts, and seller settlements. If the product gains traction, it could help push crypto further into everyday commercial workflows, especially in cross-border scenarios where traditional payment systems remain slow and expensive.