A couple years ago I found a $20 bill in the parking lot outside a movie theater. Nobody was around so I decided to keep the money. “Finders Keepers” they say. Cash has become incredibly more difficult to keep up with in the present day of credit and debit cards. Fact is credit and debit card transactions have increased dramatically over the past five years. In fact, you can now store your cards on your phone. You don’t ever have to reach into your wallet to pull it out in some cities. With these recent technological advances in payment methods, we have bitcoin.
Bitcoin has become widely more popular in recent years due to mainstream coverage and wider acceptance of the currency. A few years ago, there weren’t any retailers that accepted bitcoin; however, it has become much more mainstream and today there are many retailers that accept bitcoin. Bitcoin hasn’t come without it’s challenges though. There have been many hurdles the currency had to overcome. A lack of ability to regulate payments and their origins has scared off many governments to making bitcoin part of their monetary policy. In fact, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ bitcoin ETF they were trying to introduce.
Despite the hurdles that still exist for bitcoin in the future, it has come a long way in development over the past few years and leading the charge is retailers that accept bitcoin. Many bitcoin believers think that wider use and acceptance of bitcoin will lead to a great future for the block-chain currency.
Biggest Retailers that accept bitcoin:
Overstock.com– Online retailer with deals on everything for your home and your family
DISH Network– American direct-broadcast satellite service provider
Expedia– Online travel retailer
WordPress.com– Website creation tool
1-800-Flowers– Floral gift retailer
Zynga– Mobile gaming company
The company that sticks out to me is Overstock.com because they were the first major retailer that began accepting bitcoin payments on their site. In fact, back in 2014 when they began accepting the currency sales were averaging around $15,000 a day on bitcoin transactions alone for the site. Paying for bitcoins is also very simple at retailers. As simple as adding a credit card to your payment information in fact.
Overstock.com has now been accepting bitcoins on their site for almost three years. They have repeatedly explained the benefits they see to accepting bitcoin and have advocated that other retailers accept bitcoin. Some retailers are still hesitant to accept it due to the volatility that can exist. Although the volatility has stabilized in recent months, the SEC rejection of a bitcoin ETF showed the currency still wasn’t mature enough to prevent drastic volatility as it dropped 18% upon the news.
For a comprehensive link of retailers that accept bitcoin: Click Here
Do you have bitcoins? What places would you like to see start accepting bitcoin payments?
James Hendrickson is an internet entrepreneur, blogging junky, hunter and personal finance geek. When he’s not lurking in coffee shops in Portland, Oregon, you’ll find him in the Pacific Northwest’s great outdoors. James has a masters degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park and a Bachelors degree on Sociology from Earlham College. He loves individual stocks, bonds and precious metals.