Bitcoin QT Android

If you are a Bitcoin-friendly merchant using BitPay or a customer buying something with cryptocurrency, then payments just got a lot easier, thanks to the official launching of Bitcoin Payment Protocol’s support.

According to BitPay, this new set of updates “eliminates a lot of human error in making a Bitcoin payment”. From now on, a “user can just click on a payment link, or scan a QR code, and the wallet software offers two simple choices to the user, pay or don’t pay. The user no longer has to copy the address and amount into their wallet”, the company added in a recent blog post.

The new support measures include native refund address support; secure and signed payment requests; user-friendly QR codes; and direct payment communication.

Native refund address support

With the Payment Protocol, the wallet supplies a refund address along with the payment. This eliminates another potential source of error in refund situations. This approach to refunds works on the block chain, with any wallet software, and does not require the buyers to have a bitpay account.

Secure, signed payment requests

The payment protocol supports optional SSL signatures (technically X.509 signatures) on payment requests. This offers certainty to users that they are sending their payment to the intended recipient (all BitPay payment requests are signed). When using a wallet that supports the payment procotol (currently Bitcoin-QT and the Android Bitcoin Wallet), you will immediately notice that your wallet tells you that BitPay is requesting a payment.