ETA CEO Eyes New Partnerships as Bitcoin Startups Expand

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is signaling that Bitcoin may become a more visible part of mainstream payments conversations—at least within the group’s broader push to engage with emerging transaction technologies. ETA CEO Jason Oxman told CoinDesk that the organization is not lobbying for or against Bitcoin, but he suggested that ETA members are beginning to recognize its potential disruption in the payments stack.

The message comes as the ETA expands its membership base to include BitPay. On August 6, the trade group announced that BitPay—the Bitcoin payments provider—had become the first virtual currency company to join the ETA, framing the move as part of the industry’s ongoing innovation agenda.

Key takeaways

• The ETA’s Jason Oxman said the group does not take an official pro- or anti-Bitcoin stance and supports electronic transactions broadly, including non-Bitcoin technologies.


• BitPay’s entry as the ETA’s first virtual currency member is being presented by Oxman as evidence the trade group “won’t turn a blind eye to innovation.”


• Oxman pointed to education efforts around Bitcoin—specifically referencing the role of the Bitcoin Foundation—in shaping ETA members’ attitudes.


• On New York’s BitLicense proposal, Oxman argued regulators should avoid applying “reflexive” rules to new technology and instead conduct a deeper technical review of how Bitcoin systems and consumer protections work.


• New York’s financial regulator extended the public comment period for the BitLicense proposal by 45 days, pushing the deadline to October 21.

Why BitPay’s ETA membership matters

ETA represents major players in electronic payments, including companies such as Visa, MasterCard, Amazon, and PayPal. When Oxman discussed the ETA’s posture toward Bitcoin, he did not describe the trade group as endorsing a single technology. Instead, he framed the ETA’s mission around enabling electronic transactions in whatever form merchants and customers choose.

In that context, Oxman cited the ETA’s partnership with Atlanta-based Bitcoin payment solutions provider BitPay as a practical sign of openness. He suggested the organization is trying to position itself as a partner for emerging technology startups, with engagement driven largely by whether market participants show demand for those tools.

Oxman’s core argument was that transaction rails evolve according to user and merchant preferences. As he put it in his remarks, electronic transactions will take “whatever the customer or merchant of choice agrees is going to be the form of their electronic transaction.”

From education to partnerships

Oxman also linked the ETA’s shifting view to earlier learning efforts about Bitcoin. He said the Bitcoin Foundation played a significant role in educating ETA members about Bitcoin’s benefits and emphasized the value of business-oriented introductions between Bitcoin startups and established payment companies.

Specifically, Oxman referenced an ETA event in 2013 where Bitcoin Foundation general counsel Patrick Murck spoke. In Oxman’s recollection, Murck helped frame Bitcoin in business terms, after which Oxman said at least one ETA member decided to pursue a deal with a Bitcoin processor.

This detail matters because it suggests the ETA’s openness is not only policy-driven, but also influenced by how Bitcoin is presented—less as a speculative innovation and more as a payments system that can be integrated into existing commercial workflows.

What Oxman says about BitLicense and consumer protection

The ETA CEO’s comments also touched New York’s BitLicense framework, which has been at the center of ongoing debate about how cryptocurrency businesses should be regulated. Oxman said the ETA’s historical experience with regulatory change has involved adjusting to new payment options such as PayPal, noting that it previously spent significant effort encouraging regulators not to constrict innovation.

However, he acknowledged why regulators may be cautious with new payment technologies. His reasoning was that regulators tend to focus on consumer protection. According to Oxman, the less established the alternative system is—meaning the fewer protections are clearly available—the more regulators feel compelled to intervene.

Still, Oxman said the NY Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) should do more than react quickly to novelty. He argued regulators should not rely on “reflexive rules” simply because a technology is new, and instead conduct a real in-depth look at Bitcoin’s underlying systems.

In his view, the key is understanding how Bitcoin’s system operates, including how the blockchain works, and how Bitcoin providers—such as payment processors—can implement additional safeguards for consumers and merchants. The implication is that compliance standards should reflect the actual operating model and control points of Bitcoin-related businesses, rather than generic assumptions that could overreach.

Regulatory timeline shifts in New York

While ETA’s stance is aimed at engagement rather than advocacy, New York’s regulatory process is still unfolding. Earlier this week, NYDFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky extended the public comment period on the BitLicense proposal by 45 days, pushing the deadline to October 21. This extension followed a joint letter addressed to Lawsky from BTC China, Huobi, and OkCoin, where the “Big three” exchanges outlined concerns about the proposal.

For industry participants, the practical takeaway is that the BitLicense debate remains active and that the regulatory outcome may depend on the arguments that emerge during the revised comment window. For Bitcoin-focused payments firms, that matters directly: the availability of licensing pathways and the scope of compliance requirements can influence whether and how businesses expand within New York.

As the ETA continues to bring Bitcoin payments into its orbit through members like BitPay and as New York works through its BitLicense process, readers should watch two things: whether regulators adopt a more technical, systems-level approach to consumer safeguards, and whether established payments networks deepen partnerships with Bitcoin-related processors as demand from merchants and customers becomes more visible.

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