Folding As part of a suite of features the Fold team is calling the Bitcoin Checking Account, the company recently released a Direct to Bitcoin feature, which allows Fold users to automatically convert between 1% and 100% of their fiat deposits into Bitcoin from their checking account, which can also be used for payments.
The new feature is the first of many the company plans to release in the coming months to help users live with the Bitcoin standard more easily.
You can now migrate to Bitcoin Standard in just two taps. Fold App.
Earn Bitcoin and keep accessing all the everyday financial tools you need. pic.twitter.com/V8BQgwTs7S
— Will Reeves (@wlrvs) May 31, 2024
“Direct to Bitcoin is a way to automatically balance incoming funds between dollars and Bitcoin, and is essentially the foundation on which the Fold product works,” Fold CEO Will Reeves told Bitcoin Magazine.
“This brings a fully functional banking experience to bitcoin users, which hasn’t existed in a great way until now,” he added.
With this new phase of Fold, Reeves and his team want to make it easier for bitcoin users to use it as a base currency, not only allowing them to store bitcoin through the app, but also to easily convert it into U.S. dollars when making payments.
To help usher in this new era, Fold has hired ecosystem lead Brian Harrington, whose first major task will be to bring Bitcoin checking account functionality to market.
Required banking functions
Your preferred currency
Bitcoin is better than the dollar https://t.co/eKxJplD11i
— Brian Harrington (@BrainHarrington) May 31, 2024
Harrington said, Choice Appwhere he led the marketing effort for the first Bitcoin IRA accounts in 2020, which changed public perception about holding Bitcoin in an IRA. Now, many companies offer Bitcoin IRAs.
Harrington seems very excited as he prepares to bring attention to Fold’s bitcoin checking account. He wants to let people convert their bitcoin to US dollars and then spend those dollars all in one app. The idea was born out of his own frustration.
“I was tired of going back and forth between banks and bitcoin exchanges,” Harrington told Bitcoin Magazine.
“The checking account product solves a problem that I call the ACH portal. What is a bank? It’s access to the ACH network. I no longer wanted to use the ACH portal of an institution that maximizes the dollar,” he added.
“After searching for these solutions myself, I’m excited to work with Will and the team to bring this together.”
That being said, both Harrington and Reeves stressed that the Fold is trying to achieve something much bigger than just these two features.
“What Fold does is more than just one feature,” Harrington said.
“This isn’t about features. It’s about what’s going on with the Fold,” he added.
Reeves joined in to provide further explanation.
“Bitcoin is becoming more and more central to our lives, and the lives of millions of people,” he explained.
“The world is becoming more and more expensive for people who hold dollars, but it’s becoming cheaper for bitcoin holders. But there are no banks for bitcoin holders,” he added.
“We’re focused on how to become a bank for bitcoin users that doesn’t exist today.”
For more information about the Fold and its future plans, see our recent Founder Profile About Reeves.
Download the Fold app here.
