New partnership to allow Aussies pay household bills with cryptocurrencies

Australian cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet company Cointree has announced its partnership with bill payment AI-automation startup Gobbill, enabling users to pay bills with their cryptocurrencies.

Founded in 2015, Gobbill, a Microsoft Startup sponsored company, can pay bills issued from any Australian provider such as utilities, telecommunications, council rates, insurance and more. The company is a partner of the Australian Government’s cyber safety initiative, AI partner of Silverpond and member of Stone & Chalk.

With this partnership, users from both platforms would be able to pay household bills using their crypto coins stored in Cointree’s wallet. Gobbill users can also link a crypto wallet in their account and choose to pay their bills either by credit card, bank account or a specified cryptocurrency regardless of whether the biller accepts the desired payment method.

Shendon Ewans, CEO and co-founder of Gobbill, said the partnership With Cointree would add significant value to customers who were looking to adopt digital currencies.

“Digital currencies are becoming mainstream, and our view at Gobbill is to support customer choice and convenience. We anticipate a surge in the number of customers who would like to pay their bills in crypto in the coming years. Our partnership with Cointree will cater to this market and ensure Gobbill continues to remain ahead of the curve when it comes to allowing our users to pay their bills automatically, while knowing they’re protected from fraud and scams,” he said.

Cointree operations manager Jess Renden told AFR that Cointree already had its own service that allows users to pay bills, but hoped this partnership would make it easier for people who had not experimented with cryptocurrencies before.

"Last year alone we had about $100 million of bills paid in Australia and saw ten times growth in this payment feature," she said.