iTWire - Which companies accept cryptocurrency?
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Wednesday, 27 October 2021 20:56
Which companies accept cryptocurrency?
By Guest Writer
GUEST OPINION: Although a lot of people associate cryptocurrencies with investments and price fluctuations, digital assets such as bitcoin were originally intended for borderless payments. Cryptocurrencies helped make international transactions more convenient and cheaper, and are quite popular among unbanked people.
Accepting cryptocurrencies is not a hype chase as some may think. According to BitPay and Forrester Consulting research, crypto adoption can attract new audiences and boost sales. For example, up to 40% of customers who pay with cryptocurrency are new to the merchant; crypto is less expensive than cards to support; the average check of cryptocurrency users twice larger than card users’; also cryptocurrencies have no chargeback which means less fraud.
Therefore, it is not surprising that more and more companies are trying to accept cryptocurrencies, making digital assets ubiquitous. Here are a few companies that already accept cryptocurrencies or offer them to users.
E-commerce
The e-commerce sector is one of the most active in crypto adoption as it allows getting returns relatively fast. For example, when American online retailer Overstock started accepting Bitcoin in 2014, it was a success — over 1000 orders, over $100,000 sales, almost all from new customers, and that’s on the first day. Overstock still supports Bitcoin for payments.
Newegg also started accepting Bitcoin in 2014. But unlike many other companies that convert cryptocurrency through third-party services, Newegg accepts bitcoin directly.
Shopify accepts cryptocurrencies as “alternative payment methods” using the services of four different crypto payment providers. Shopify accepts not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum and Litecoin.
Payments and finance
PayPal joined the crypto market in March 2021 when it started to offer buying and selling cryptocurrency on the platform but only for US customers. PayPal users can hold crypto in their accounts or use it to pay online merchants. PayPal supports Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum, they can be converted into fiat currencies as well.
Square gives access to cryptocurrencies with CashApp service that also allows users to buy and sell digital assets. Crypto withdrawals to external wallets are available but users need to be verified for that. This platform is quite popular among crypto investors from the US but crypto operations are only a small part of Square income at the moment.
Visa supports different crypto initiatives and even was a part of Facebook's Libra Association. In March 2021, the company started accepting stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) for transaction settlement within its payment network.
Travel and airlines
In July 2021, Pavilion Hotels & Resorts became the first international hotel group that started accepting cryptocurrencies for payments. The company also noted that cryptocurrencies offer enhanced payment security solutions. The hotel group allows customers to book rooms using 40 different tokens, including Bitcoin.
Back in 2014, Latvian AirBaltic became the first airline company to accept bitcoin as payment for tickets. According to the company, there were more than 1,000 BTC transactions since the payment method launch. Some European airline companies followed AirBaltic and began accepting bitcoin, for example, LOT Polish Airlines.
Expedia is one of the largest and most well-known travel agencies to accept cryptocurrencies as payment. Expedia clients can use more than 30 cryptocurrencies to book over 700,000 hotels on the company's website.
Non-profit organizations
Quite often, donating money to charity comes with high fees. Besides, some people prefer to stay anonymous when making such transactions. This made Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies quite popular among non-profit organizations. For example, Wikipedia has been accepting bitcoin for donations since 2014. The Giving Block company has even created a platform that provides non-profit organizations and donors to accept cryptocurrency transactions.
As for Wikileaks, cryptocurrencies, in a sense, have saved the organization. Wikileaks started accepting bitcoin back in 2011. When the organization was under mounting pressure from payment providers, Bitcoin became the only way to collect and store donations. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, said the organization made close to 50,000% return with Bitcoin as a result of the blockade.
Restaurants and supermarkets
When startup Flexa joined forces with crypto platform Gemini, it became easier for big retailers to accept cryptocurrencies. They created a payment solution that can be embedded in digital scanners used to pay with Apple Pay and other online wallets. One of the first companies to use this technology was the supermarket chain Whole Foods.
Starbucks allows visitors to pay for orders through the Bakkt app that converts bitcoin to fiat money. Burger King and Pizza Hut also accept "converted cryptocurrencies" as a payment method but so far only in Venezuela. For this, both companies used the CryptoBuyer service.
Gaming
Microsoft started accepting Bitcoin as a payment option in 2014. Users can use cryptocurrency to buy video games and subscriptions from the Xbox online store. Then this option began to be supported for the Windows store as well.
The Humble Bundle is a popular online store for gamers, but non-video game bundles can also be found there. Bitcoin is supported as a payment option for some bundles, but not all. Also, Bitcoin is supported only for those who use conversions through USD.
These are just a few companies that support bitcoin and altcoins for payments. But you shouldn’t think that accepting cryptocurrency is only the prerogative of large and well-known companies. According to HSB research, 36% of small-medium businesses in the US accept Bitcoin. The crypto adoption level by business varies from country to country but accepting crypto has already become a trend. As cryptocurrencies gain more and more popularity and rules to work with crypto become more clear, more businesses will consider accepting cryptocurrencies.
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