{"328181":{"#nid":"328181","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Alumni Get in the Bitcoin Business","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETo some, thinking about bitcoins may bring visions of a Super Mario Brother jumping to take a glimmering gold circle.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo Tech alumni Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair, it brought a business opportunity \u2014 Bitpay.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA sponsor of Georgia Tech Athletics this season, Bitpay is a payment processor that deals in bitcoins, a virtual currency. Founded by Pair and Gallippi in 2011, Bitpay provides a way for businesses to take bitcoin as payment\u0026nbsp;\u2014 similar to the way a service provider offers Internet service to a home or business.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s been a 20-year path for me to get here,\u201d said Pair, who graduated from Tech in 1994 and began his career in consulting. \u201cI recognized money was a worthless piece of paper with worthless ink, which meant it was just an informational thing, and you must be able to replicate it in a computer somehow.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2010, he read a whitepaper about bitcoin and, sensing its potential, got in touch with his friend Tony.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe first time we both read about it, we needed to learn more,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter studying it, Tony picked up on its ability to solve fraud problems with credit cards.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith their interest piqued, Pair and Gallippi focused on developing business tools for bitcoin, which led to Bitpay. Pair and Gallippi relocated Bitpay to Atlanta last year because of the city\u2019s financial technology community as well as convenient access to Tech students as interns. They\u2019ve since expanded business into South America and Europe, raised more than $30 million in venture funding, and have signed up more than 30,000 merchants for their service.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur ideal customer right now is an ecommerce customer that is selling products,\u201d Pair said. \u201cInternational credit card transactions are risky, the rate of fraud is high and the merchant eats the cost. Bitcoin lets you take payment from anywhere on earth.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough Bitpay focuses on commercial use, Pair encourages people to explore using bitcoin for their personal transactions, starting with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bitcoin.org\/\u0022\u003Ebitcoin.org\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDon\u2019t put your life savings in it, but download bitcoin software, play around, buy something, test out the technology,\u201d he said. \u201cIt operates just like cash, but for the Internet. You use it the same way you use cash, it\u2019s just electronic.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis young son is interested in exploring the technology but is still learning the ropes. A couple years ago he had saved $200 in change and spent hours counting it out to buy an electric scooter.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe blurted out, \u2018Bitcoin is way better than this,\u2019\u201d Pair said. \u201cWhat he didn\u2019t realize is that you pay in exact in amounts with bitcoin, so he wouldn\u2019t have had the change in the first place.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough neither Pair nor Gallippi remembers his first purchase with bitcoin, they remember the significant ones. Bitpay \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ramblinwreck.com\/genrel\/072514aaa.html\u0022\u003Eused bitcoin\u003C\/a\u003E to sponsor Georgia Tech Athletics this season, and Gallippi used it to buy a Tesla.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBitpay lets businesses accept Bitcoin as a form of payment.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Bitpay lets businesses accept Bitcoin as a form of payment."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2014-09-24 09:00:57","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:07","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"328191":{"id":"328191","type":"image","title":"Bitcoin","body":null,"created":"1449245064","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:24","changed":"1475895039","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:39","alt":"Bitcoin","file":{"fid":"200271","name":"url.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/url_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/url_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":4328,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/url_0.png?itok=Ic5md-P8"}}},"media_ids":["328191"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/1478006352458268\/","title":"Bitcoin 101"},{"url":"https:\/\/bitpay.com\/","title":"Bitpay"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"506","name":"alumni"},{"id":"104311","name":"bitcoin"},{"id":"104301","name":"bitpay"},{"id":"104321","name":"cryptocurrency"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"106361","name":"Business and Economic Development"},{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}