How We Set Our Exchange Rates

BitPay has relationships with many digital currency exchanges around the world. When calculating our exchange rates for BitPay invoices, we only incorporate rates of digital currency exchanges which meet our regulatory, operational, and liquidity requirements. We also seek to ensure that our exchange rates are competitive.

To calculate the exchange rate for a given cryptocurrency in US Dollars (USD) and Euros (EUR), we use the Bids (open orders to buy) directly from our approved exchanges.

We factor market volatility into our exchange rates to offer a rate that BitPay will honor for up to 15 minutes, allowing a shopper ample time to complete the payment.

We also factor market depth into our exchange rates, which means that the demand liquidity for a given cryptocurrency can vary based on the size of the order. Adjustments for market depth are usually only noticeable on very large invoices.

We set exchange rates for non-USD and non-EUR currencies indirectly using Open Exchange Rates. In the future, as digital currency markets in other currencies mature, BitPay will use those markets directly.

The exchange rate that BitPay has calculated for every payment is disclosed on the payment request by clicking on the circular “(i)” icon in the upper right corner.