Relaunched ZipZap brings bitcoin buying to 20,000 retail locations

In March, San Francisco-based bitcoin payment startup ZipZap was forced to halt its ambitious plan to bring retail-level bitcoin-buying to a huge network of brick-and-mortar businesses. As the price of bitcoin became increasingly erratic following the collapse of Mt.Gox and the fear that Chinese authorities were on the verge of banning cryptocurrencies, ZipZap’s payment processing partner, PayPoint got cold feet. Claiming it would need more “regulatory clarification” before it could work with bitcoin, the U.K.-based PayPoint pulled out of the project, leaving ZipZap out in the cold.

This week, ZipZap announced it had acquired a new payment partner in Ireland-based Payzone. The collaboration will allow ZipZap to resume its plans and bring in-person bitcoin buying to more than 20,000 retail locations in the U.K. It’s not clear when the network will actually launch, although the company had been deep into a seemingly successful pilot program when PayPoint withdrew their support.

Should the relaunched ZipZap in-store buying bitcoin program prove successful, the company has plans for a rapid global expansion. ZipZap CEO and founder Alan Safahi told CoinDesk that the company has plans to operate in 35 countries, and will be launching services in “the next few months.” The company’s international roadmap is already clear, with those countries and their major payment systems already listed on the ZipZap homepage.