Key Takeaways
Bitcoin mining company GoMining is launching GoBTC, a native Bitcoin payment protocol that enables instant point-of-sale transactions with a 0.2% merchant fee, a direct challenge to the 1.5% to 3.5% rates charged by Visa and Mastercard.
"The first line of the Bitcoin whitepaper describes a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Bitcoin was designed to be money, not just an asset. That promise is still unfulfilled, and we intend to deliver on it,” Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining, said in a statement.
The protocol uses a 2-of-3 multi-signature architecture and leverages GoMining's own mining pool to confirm transactions, aiming for a 12-hour on-chain settlement by the end of 2026. The 0.2% fee is distributed back into the ecosystem, with 50% going to miners and 50% to the wallet provider that initiates the payment.
By retaining no portion of the fee from third-party wallet transactions, GoMining aims to accelerate adoption across platforms like Ledger or MetaMask, potentially making Bitcoin a viable medium for daily purchases and creating a new utility-driven revenue stream for miners beyond block rewards.
The launch, announced at the Consensus 2026 conference in Miami, positions GoMining’s 5 million users to use the network. For merchants, GoBTC will offer a dedicated point-of-sale terminal, a developer SDK, and plugins for e-commerce platforms Shopify and WooCommerce, providing a Bitcoin-native acquiring network that settles in BTC.
This move into payments complements GoMining's recent integration with Babylon Labs, which allows Bitcoin holders to lock up to 1,000 BTC in trustless vaults to earn yield from mining. Together, the initiatives signal a broader strategy from the top-10 miner to build a circular Bitcoin economy where the asset can be used for payments, earning, and settlement without relying on custodians or wrapped assets.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
