Amazon-Owned Twitch Removes Crypto Payments for Subscriptions

Amazon-owned live streaming video platform Twitch.tv has reportedly removed its cryptocurrency payment option for subscriptions.

A Reddit user posted the news on Saturday, saying that, while Twitch had allowed users to pay in BTC$98,331.13 and BCH$500.17 through blockchain payments processor Bitpay, the option has been removed in the last couple of weeks “for all countries.”

A tweet from Twitch dating from last January does indicate that bitcoin at least was one of the accepted payment options, among other methods including Amazon Pay and Apple Pay:

Its terms and conditions currently state that the firm accepts "major credit cards, certain debit cards, PayPal, various payment methods through Xsolla and/or such other payment methods we may make available to you from time-to-time through our site, as forms of payment."

Another Redditor said they had sometimes used BCH as a payment option for subscriptions, but with Twitch removing the option, they have canceled all subscriptions and notified the firm.

While cryptocurrencies have been widely touted as having a strong potential role in online payments, issues such as price volatility have sometimes frustrated the best intentions of merchants attempting to offer the option.

Microsoft, for example, suspended bitcoin payments on its store last January, citing "instability." They were later reinstated, however.

Online gaming platform Steam also dropped its bitcoin payments feature in late 2017, citing chronic problems with the cryptocurrency’s high transaction fees and volatile price. It's worth noting that the average fee for a bitcoin transaction has dropped significantly since the highs seen in 2017-2018.

CoinDesk has reached out to Twitch and will update this article accordingly if a reply is received.

Twitch image via Shutterstock