Bitcoin payment processor BitPay has announced at the Money Conf Belfast that the startup will shift its focus from merchant payment platforms and services to working with large financial institutions and banks.

BitPay plans to implement the payment infrastructure that was initially developed to secure BitPay's accounting system to settle credit card and bank settlements by simplifying and securing the process of transferring money from one account to another using the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitpay CEO Stephen Pair announced that the instantaneous transfer of payments which the Bitcoin blockchain offers could make settlements and transfers between banks and credit cards much more efficient. Pair:

"We're talking to quite a few banks. They're very serious, they want to do pilot projects and they can't start working on them fast enough."