- HackerOne’s enterprise clients can now make instant BitPay international payments using cryptos
- First ever ‘bug bounty’ platform to use cryptocurrencies
- Deal comes after BitPay’s major funding round earlier this year
HackerOne, an extraordinarily powerful hacker-powered security vulnerabilities assessment firm, has announced that it has integrated blockchain-enabled international money transfer platform BitPay, marking another milestone for crypto money transfer service.
This is a landmark development, marking the first time that a “bug bounty” platform has supported cryptocurrencies as a payment method.
For readers not in the know, a “bug bounty” is a deal offered by a growing number of websites and software developers allowing individuals to gain recognition and compensation for reporting software flaws or “bugs”, particularly those associated with data sequences that exploit these glitches to gain control of computer systems (“exploits”) and with computer security weaknesses (vulnerabilities) that allow cyber attacks in.
Now that the BitPay integration has been finalised, HackerOne’s clients, which include Starbucks, Spotify, Lufthansa, General Motors and even the US Department of Defence, can use cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BTH) to enable money transfer online payments to the firm for its services.
Cutting-edge hackers employed by HackerOne have helped these clients identify specific software vulnerabilities of critical significance, and have so far spotted and closed 80,000 security breaches before cyber villains could exploit them. A recent press release revealed that, for their endeavours, they were rewarded to the tune of USD $35 million.
Ning Want, HackerOne’s joint Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer, said that the BitPay integration had become necessary to provide instantaneous money transfer services. He explained:
“Many of our customers have come to rely on making payments in cryptocurrency as it is quickly becoming a popular payment method. It was important to us to continue to offer Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to our customers and we can do that through BitPay.”
BitPay’s blockchain technology will allow HackerOne to receive, and its clients to settle, international money transfers far more quickly - virtually instantly in fact - and at appreciably lower cost than conventional bank wires. Fees tied to BitPay’s transactions are frequently as low as one percent – a fraction of the fees charged by the banks, which are typically five percent (or over if hidden fees are attached). Crucially for competitive advantage, confirmations of the transactions will be finalised inside 24 hours; a bank wire, by contrast will take three to five business days.
Commenting on the new development, BitPay’s Chief Commercial Officer, Sonny Singh, said:
“Using Bitcoin, HackerOne is now able to safely accept payments from clients in Asia, Africa and Latin America that would have been nearly impossible before. HackerOne has a great reputation for product innovation and accepting Bitcoin payments is another example of that.”
Earlier this year in April, BitPay announced that it had closed a Series B funding round amounting to USD $40 million (AUD $52 million), taking the total amount of capital it had raised to USD $70m (AUD $91m). Three months later, in July, it clinched a deal with a major UK-based BMW dealership (Stephen James BMW) which began accepting its cryptocurrency as an accepted means of making payments for new vehicles.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this story about BitPay, you may wish to read our article here.