Bill Zielke, Chief Revenue and Chief Marketing Officer at BitPay, is a seasoned fintech executive with over 30 years of experience driving growth at some of the most influential companies in the payments and e-commerce space. Currently leading both revenue and marketing at BitPay, Bill oversees global go-to-market initiatives for crypto payment acceptance and BitPay’s wallet app.
Bill’s background includes senior roles launching and scaling disruptive fintech products at BitPay, Ingo Money, Forter, eBay, PayPal, Bill Me Later, and CheckFree. He’s known for his ability to introduce and commercialize industry-first solutions—such as push payments, real-time fraud prevention, BNPL services, and mobile checkout—consistently helping companies penetrate new markets and generate transformative revenue growth.
Founded in 2011, BitPay enables merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments and receive settlement in fiat, reducing volatility risk. It also offers a self-custody wallet, prepaid crypto card, and tools for bill payments—all designed to make crypto spending more accessible and secure for both businesses and consumers. Under Bill’s leadership, BitPay continues to expand its reach across major industries, helping bridge traditional finance with the evolving crypto economy.
You’ve had an impressive career across various roles in marketing and revenue growth at companies like eBay and PayPal. What inspired your move into the crypto space, and what excites you most about the future of crypto payments at BitPay?
My journey through e-commerce and fintech has always centered on improving how people and businesses transact globally. Crypto—and particularly what we’re doing at BitPay—represents the next frontier in that mission. What drew me in were the many benefits of blockchain and in particular how they solve for many of the shortcomings in legacy payment systems. Blockchain promises to make payments faster, cheaper, more inclusive, and borderless.
The most exciting part about crypto payments today is how we’re finally moving beyond speculation into real-world utility. At BitPay, we’ve helped major global brands like Gucci, Ferrari, AT&T, Microsoft, and many more manage their crypto acceptance, proving that digital assets are becoming a viable, mainstream payment option. Being part of a company that’s leading this shift is both energizing and deeply rewarding. BitPay is at the forefront of this transformation, and the possibilities are massive—from frictionless B2B payments to everyday consumer purchases using crypto.
As the crypto market rebounds and institutional interest climbs, how do you see merchant demand for crypto payment solutions evolving in the next few years, and what factors are driving this acceleration?
Merchant demand is evolving rapidly. We’re seeing a clear shift from crypto being a novelty to it being a strategic payment method. This is driven by a few key trends: increasing consumer adoption of digital assets, the global push for faster and cheaper cross-border payments, and the maturity of stablecoins as a reliable medium of exchange. For merchants, crypto offers the opportunity to capture sales from new buyers, lower transaction costs, no chargebacks, and access to a global customer base. As institutional trust in crypto grows, we expect adoption to accelerate—especially as regulatory clarity improves.
At BitPay, we’re already seeing strong momentum in key verticals. The Internet sector leads with 35% of total transactions, followed by VPN/Hosting (20%), Computer Games (15%), Information Technology/IT (5%), and Computer Networking (5%). These categories represent industries that are typically global, digital-first, and early adopters of new technology.
For a full breakdown of where crypto payments are growing fastest, we publish updated transaction data each month here.
Stablecoins are becoming a central part of crypto transactions. What are the most significant advantages of using stablecoins for cross-border payments, supplier settlements, and other operational payments compared to traditional payment systems?
Stablecoins offer several game-changing benefits. First, they provide near-instant settlement, which eliminates the delays and intermediaries found in systems like SWIFT or ACH. Second, they significantly reduce transaction costs, particularly in high-fee corridors or emerging markets. Third, they offer transparency and traceability on-chain, which is critical for auditability and compliance. Lastly, they eliminate FX volatility by being pegged to fiat currencies, making them ideal for operational uses such as supplier payments, payroll, and invoicing.
At BitPay, we support both crypto acceptance and payouts in stablecoins, including leading options like USDC and USDT. This flexibility makes it easier for businesses to operate globally with digital dollars.
We’re seeing rapid adoption—stablecoin transaction volume on our platform has grown more than 30% year-over-year, making them our #2 most-used assets after Bitcoin. They’re also increasingly used for crypto-based rewards and rebates, enabling global reach and instant value delivery without the traditional friction or high processing fees of legacy systems.
Which industries or sectors do you see leading the charge in adopting stablecoins, and what are the specific use cases driving this trend?
We’re seeing strong adoption in industries with global operations or those underserved by traditional banking. For example:
- E-commerce and digital goods platforms use stablecoins for faster international settlements.
- Logistics and supply chain companies leverage them for real-time payments to vendors and contractors in different countries.
- Gaming and content platforms pay out creators and developers in stablecoins to reduce payout friction.
- Financial services, particularly in emerging markets, are integrating stablecoins to provide dollar-based financial services in unstable fiat environments.
These use cases are proving that stablecoins can solve real-world problems across sectors.
BitPay’s solutions aim to reduce friction in crypto payments—how do Layer 2 networks contribute to this, particularly when it comes to checkout and B2B transactions?
Layer 2 networks are a critical part of the infrastructure that enables scalable, low-cost crypto transactions. For BitPay, integrating Layer 2s like the Lightning Network, Polygon or scaling solutions on Ethereum has allowed us to offer near-instant confirmations and minimal fees at checkout, which significantly enhances the user experience.
More importantly, supporting more networks means more choices for users—whether they prefer to pay using Bitcoin on Lightning or USDC on an L2 like Polygon or Arbitrum. That flexibility increases conversion rates and leads to more sales for businesses.
For merchants, it’s not just about speed—Layer 2 networks are also more cost-effective. Because they’re decentralized and operate with lower transaction costs than traditional payment rails or Layer 1 blockchains, merchants benefit from cheaper processing fees, which helps protect margins, especially on high-volume or low-ticket transactions. Layer 2s make crypto payments more viable than ever for B2B and consumer use cases alike —without compromising security or transparency.
As more merchants look to expand their crypto usage, what are some of the key regulatory considerations they face when adopting crypto payments, particularly in sectors with strict compliance requirements like finance and healthcare?
The biggest considerations revolve around KYC/AML compliance, tax reporting, and data privacy. In highly regulated industries like finance and healthcare, merchants must ensure that crypto payments comply with existing laws—especially around fund source traceability and record-keeping. BitPay makes this easy for merchants by providing tools that support transaction history exports, compliance integrations, and identity verification where needed. Additionally, understanding how stablecoin usage is classified under different jurisdictions—whether as currency, security, or something else—is crucial for long-term adoption.
Given your extensive experience with B2B marketing, what strategies have been most effective for educating traditional businesses about the benefits of integrating crypto payments into their operations?
Education through use-case-driven storytelling is key. Traditional businesses don’t necessarily care about the technology—they care about solving growing sales, solving customer needs and saving on processing costs. We’ve had the most success by highlighting real-world outcomes like reducing payment processing fees, enabling cross-border trade, boosting sales and/or improving cash flow. Partnering with trusted industry associations, offering hands-on demos, and simplifying integration through existing ERP or invoicing systems also help lower the barrier to entry. Building trust is fundamental, so thought leadership and transparent communication go a long way.
BitPay has seen significant growth in recent years. How does the company plan to continue expanding its offerings and adapting to the evolving crypto landscape, especially with institutional interest rising?
We’re investing heavily in three core areas: product innovation, partnership expansion, and institutional-grade infrastructure. This includes expanding our support for stablecoins like USDC and USDT, continuing support for Magento, Big Commerce, Shopify, Wix and more and integrating with leading accounting and billing platforms, and enhancing APIs for enterprise use. We’re also forging partnerships with payment processors, wallets, and fintechs to broaden our ecosystem.
One exciting area is crypto payouts for things like payroll, rewards, gig economy payments, and rebates, which are becoming powerful tools for customer engagement. BitPay enables businesses to issue rewards in stablecoins or other digital assets, helping them stand out in competitive markets. As institutions seek compliant, scalable crypto payment solutions, BitPay is uniquely positioned to serve them with our decade-plus of experience and proven reliability.
BitPay is often at the forefront of crypto adoption—what’s next for the company in terms of innovations in payment solutions, and how do you envision the broader future of payments with crypto and stablecoins?
Next up for BitPay is a deeper focus on smart payment routing, multi-chain support, and programmable payments that leverage smart contracts for things like recurring billing or escrow. We’re also expanding our solutions around crypto rewards and rebates, enabling merchants to reward loyal customers with instant, on-chain value—whether in USDC, USDT, or other supported assets.
As crypto and stablecoins become more mainstream, we believe the future of payments will be real-time, global, and interoperable—where value moves as freely and efficiently as information. BitPay will be right at the center of making that vision a reality.
Looking five years ahead, what are the key milestones you hope to see in the adoption of crypto payments and stablecoins, and how do you envision BitPay’s role in that future?
In five years, I’d like to see crypto payments make up a meaningful percentage of global online transactions—at least 10–15% in key verticals. I also expect stablecoins to become standard for cross-border B2B payments, with regulatory clarity in major markets. BitPay’s role will be to make all of this seamless for businesses—whether they’re selling to global consumers or paying international vendors. We’ll continue to build tools that abstract away the complexity, making crypto a simple, secure, and strategic part of any business’s financial toolkit.
Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit BitPay.