Australia’s 1st Energy offers crypto bill payments

Melbourne headquartered 1st Energy is the first energy retailer in Australia to offer the option of crypto payments.

1st Energy is partnering on the service with the US-based crypto payment provider BitPay with twelve crypto options available so far.

These include the leading cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin and Ethereum as well as lesser known ones including the up and coming Shiba Inu and five USD-pegged stable coins DAI, Binance USD, Pax Dollar, Gemini Dollar and USD Coin.

The process for customers appears to be straightforward, requiring them to enter their customer number and payment amount, after which they are directed to BitPay’s payment facility where their crypto of choice can be selected and the payment executed.

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Utility crypto payments are still something of a novelty with very few if any cases currently, at least publicised.

However, with the growth of blockchain and crypto in particular around electric vehicle charging, demand is likely to increase as more and more people adopt these services and become familiar with the use of cryptocurrencies.

BitPay is claimed to be the largest Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment service provider in the world.

BitPay’s CEO Stephen Pair believes that 2022 will be an inflection point in terms of increased use of crypto payments.

According to BitPay’s statistics the company is recording a little over 68,400 transactions on average monthly, of which Bitcoin is the most popular used in almost 60%. Litecoin is second with almost 15%, while Bitcoin spin-off Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum are next with both over 9%.

1st Energy was founded in 2014 and describes itself as a new energy company currently servicing New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia.