Dell
just became the largest tech company in the world to embrace
Bitcoin and start accepting it as payment. The multinational
corporation is even proactively encouraging its customers to use
the digital currency by offering a 10 percent discount on certain
products if they’re purchase with Bitcoin.
Dell is about four times larger than the second biggest company
to accept Bitcoin as payment, the Dish
Network.
It has partnered with Coinbase to process payments. Coinbase is
an international Bitcoin wallet that has already partnered with
companies like Overstock.com and
Expedia—both
of which experienced immediate success with Bitcoin transactions.
Overstock actually processed more than 800 orders, worth about
$126,000, in the first 24 hours that it accepted Bitcoin.
Using Bitcoin in transactions has advantages for companies like
Dell and Overstock. For instance, Visa charges merchants up to 2.95
percent per transaction. Coinbase charges
merchants 1 percent, and only after the merchant has done $1
million worth of transactions that month.
Cost reduction was one of the drivers for accepting Bitcoin said
Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com. “The other was grounded in
ideology.”
As more companies make Bitcoin use accessible to mainstream
consumers, the discussion about regulations will likely heat up.
New York
just passed strict cryptocurrency regulations last week
that will likely drive businesses centered on Bitcoin out of the
state. On the other end of the spectrum, California
just legally recognized Bitcoin as an acceptable form of
payment and refrained from implementing unreasonable
regulations.
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