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Earlier this week, GridPlus Energy (a subsidiary of Consensys), released a statement saying that it will now be allowing its customers to pay for their monthly power bills using crypto assets such as Ether, Dai.
With that being said, it should be noted that this option is currently only available in Centerpoint and Oncor— two of Texas’s biggest Transmission and Delivery Service Provider (TSDP) service areas.
For those of our readers who may not be aware, the Centerpoint TSDP sector provides electricity coverage to major metropolitan regions such as Houston and Galveston. Similarly, the Oncor TDSP area covers around 15 major cities within the United States— including Dallas, Midland, Odessa, and Fort Worth.
How Will These Payments Work?
GridPlus customers living in the aforementioned regions will have the power to clear their electricity bill via the following options:
- Ether (ETH)
- Dai Stablecoin
- Credit Cards
- Cash Deposits
If that wasn't enough, a spokesperson for GridPlus also announced that the firm is looking to add support for Bitcoin to its native payment interface in the near future.
While crypto-payments might not start to flow-in straight off the bat, the fact that a large multinational has taken the effort to incorporate such a feature just goes to show the increasing market clout that digital currencies now possess.
Crypto Payments: The Future of Finance
As per an announcement made by the GridPlus Energy executive brass recently, the firm will offer customers with unique payment options such as “fixed-price, post-pay”. Not only that, within the coming few months, they also plan to incorporate “layer 2” scaling solutions like state channels and plasma chains into their native payment module.
In addition to all of this, GridPlus also plans on leveraging its tech-solutions so that it can eventually move towards the possibility of “15-minute settlement periods instead of monthly pay periods”.
In regards to the matter, a company spokesperson also added:
“Significant price swings can exist in this real time market, but when averaged out over a long period, the real time rate is nearly always advantageous to the end user compared to locking in a fixed-price product,”
Final Take
In rounding off this article, it should be noted that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently took to Twitter to talk about the potential of digital assets— particularly in relation to “per-second” payments.
More people should look at using smart contracts for recurring payments on a *per-second* basis for subscription services, ongoing donations, dividends, etc. Can set and change a *payment rate* with a single transaction.
— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) February 6, 2019
“More people should look at using smart contracts for recurring payments on a *per-second* basis for subscription services, ongoing donations, dividends, etc. Can set and change a *payment rate* with a single transaction.”
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.