ATLANTA – December 11, 2013 – BitPay announces it has processed over $100 million in transactions this year, and has increased its merchant base to over 15,500 approved merchants in 200 countries.

Since the announcement of the new All-Inclusive Pricing Plans in October, along with the integration with Shopify in November, the number of new merchants has increased over 50% and the transaction volume has tripled.

"This year, the 2013 holiday season was Adafruit's biggest ever. We are delighted to offer bitcoin payments via BitPay to our community and customers. It was fast and easy, hundreds of orders and happy customers getting educational electronics, using bitcoin!" shared Limor Fried, Founder and Engineer with Adafruit.

Bitcoin has "clear potential for growth and could become a major means of payment for online transactions," a Bank of America analyst told CNBC. As the number of Bitcoin users continues to increase, merchants such as Adafruit, BTCTrip, Alliance Virtual Offices, and Clearly Canadian see the value of working with BitPay to expand their business.

"BitPay is the gateway payment for businesses that want to accept bitcoin. It's the main player to develop the merchant economy for bitcoin community," said Martin Fernandez, CEO BTCTrip.

BitPay has made the process of becoming a merchant simple, hassle free and accessible everywhere. Merchants choose the way they want to accept Bitcoin; either via mobile device in-store, NFC into a POS terminal, online through any of BitPay's shopping cart partners, or through a direct API. Merchants can also choose how they want their funds settled from one of the 40 local currencies BitPay offers, including Bitcoin.

Many of BitPay's new merchants are trying to stay ahead of the curve, while expanding their customer bases," says Tony Gallippi, BitPay CEO.

The company's recently launched bitcoin directory features many of the world's greatest bitcoin-accepting merchants. The directory gives bitcoin users access to thousands of businesses and charities that now accept bitcoin.