Compliance

Overview of BitPay's Compliance Processes for Businesses and Individuals. When setting up a new account, you will need to go through this process for business verification.

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Individual

BitPay ID

BitPay requires a one-time compliance check for individuals before they can interact with certain BitPay services. The process can typically be completed in a few minutes. The scenarios where BitPay ID is required include, but are not limited to:

  • Customers making a purchase in excess of $3,000 USD
  • Recipients of a payouts
  • All customers transacting in the EU

For more detailed information on BitPay ID, visit this link.

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Once an individual has completed the BitPay ID process, they will not need to go through it again, regardless of the merchant they are interacting with.


Business

Which Tier is right for your business?

BitPay merchant accounts are divided into 3 tiers. Tiers with higher volume limits will require some additional vetting by our compliance team. When you initially set up your merchant account, you will be submitting documentation for tier 2 approval. If you will need a higher volume limit, you can apply for tier 3, and then subsequently tier 4 through your dashboard.

  • Tier 2 - $10,000 USD Daily / $500,000 USD Yearly
  • Tier 3 - $100,000 USD Daily / $5,000,000 USD Yearly
  • Tier 4 - Unlimited volume daily and annually
    • Must be approved for Tier 3 first to be eligible for Tier 4
What information should you have readily available prior to setting up a merchant account?
Ownership
  • Input the majority owner’s name in the account application
  • You will need valid ID’s for ALL owners with 25% or more direct or indirect interest in the business readily available to upload
Business Operating address
  • Input the address your business operates out of in the account application (you will need to provide an address document that confirms this address)
User on the BitPay account
  • A valid ID is required to be uploaded for the user on the account
  • The user on the account can be different from the owner(s)
Industry Type
  • You will be required to choose your industry type from a drop down of choices in the account application - please choose this based on what your business is selling or what best describes your services offered
Website
  • An active website for the business is required to onboarded
    • Website must be fully active
    • Website must clearly show what your business is selling or what services are being offered
    • Pricing must be listed on your website
    • The website cannot be under construction or coming soon
  • All websites must have terms and conditions and or a privacy policy listed on their website, viewable to the public
Business Name
  • The name of your business must be reflected in your website (URL, name, terms and conditions, etc.)
    • If the name of your website differs from the name of your business, a document must be provided to associates the two together
Email Address
  • The email address provided should be for the user on the account and preferably has a corresponding domain matching the name of the business
Settlement Details
  • Your account will not be approved without inputting settlement details in your account application
  • If planning on settling to crypto, please have the wallet information readily available to input during the application process
  • If planning on settling to a bank account it must be a business bank account belonging to the business the application is for. Make sure to have this bank account number and information readily available to input during the application process
What documents are needed to apply?
Documents Required to Apply for Tier 2
  • Valid ID’s for all persons with 25% or more direct or indirect interest in the business.
    • Must be a driver’s license, passport, or national identity card
    • Must be valid and not expired
    • If there is no individual with such ownership, please upload an ID for someone with the executive authority to open the account
  • Government Issued business registration
    • Must be valid/active
    • Must be written out to the name of the entity / account
  • Business Tax ID Verification document
    • Current utility bill (dated within most recent 90 days)
    • Current mortgage statement from a recognized lender (dated within most recent 90 days)
    • Lease/tenancy agreement - current and in good standing
Documents Required to Apply for Tier 3
  • All documents from the Tier 2 list
  • Third party credentials from the business bank account associated with the business entity (not from a personal bank account)
    • Most recent three (3) months of business bank statements
      OR
    • A letter of good standing from your bank, no older than 3 months
Documents Required to Apply for Tier 4
  • All documents from the Tier 3 list
  • Tier 4 Call
    • Once approved for Tier 3, if the need for unlimited transacting occurs, please reach out to a compliance specialist to schedule a Tier 4 call. This call will cover basic business model questions and verify the business entity is a good fit for unlimited processing
Quick Checks
Make sure the name of your account reflects the name of your entity

Make sure the documents are written out to the entity you are creating the application for

Make sure you are OFAC compliant

Does your website sell products to any of the OFAC sanctioned countries (Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Syria)? Make sure your checkout process does not allow any of these countries from drop down lists or payment options

Make sure you are not selling items that violate BitPay's Terms of Use policy

All businesses selling items or services that violate BitPay’s Terms of Use will be declined

Updated 8 months ago