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Bitcoin lets users send money nearly instantaneously, at almost no cost, and (if desired) anonymously. Getting funds in and out of the system is the hard part. That may soon change.
August 24 -
Merchants are starting to see bitcoin as a compelling alternative to credit cards for online transactions, the vendor says.
September 11 -
Bitcoin enthusiasts, playing off the holiday tradition of Black Friday sales, held their own Bitcoin Friday last week, leading to a spike in Bitcoin transactions at some — but not all — participating merchants.
November 14
The world's most popular web publishing platform has begun accepting Bitcoin, an international digital currency
WordPress, whose software is used by bloggers worldwide, said Thursday that customers can now use Bitcoin in lieu of credit cards or PayPal to pay for upgrades.
While WordPress lets anyone build a website without charge, the company sells hosting and design services, as well as an ad-free version of its blogging platform. Andy Skelton, an engineer with Automattic, the company that owns WordPress,
"PayPal alone blocks access from over 60 countries, and many credit card companies have similar restrictions," Skelton wrote. "Some are blocked for political reasons, some because of higher fraud rates, and some for other financial reasons. Whatever the reason, we don't think an individual blogger from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere because of payment issues they can't control."
BitPay, an Orlando-based company that helps online merchants accept the digitized currency as payment, will process payments on WordPress' behalf.
Bitcoin, which had an estimated 740,000 users worldwide in 2011, lets users move money instantaneously to others via the Internet.
Though a
WordPress could help Bitcoin go mainstream. Roughly half of the most-visited blogs in the world use the WordPress platform, according to a
WordPress approached BitPay several months ago, according to Anthony Gallippi, BitPay's founder and chief executive.
According to Gallippi, the platform provider hoped to enable users to pay with Bitcoin but had questions about legal and financial risks associated with the currency, which is not sanctioned or controlled by any government and trades at a volatile exchange rate to the dollar.
BitPay removes much of the currency risk for its client since WordPress will never take legal possession of the coins, Gallippi says. BitPay immediately converts the digital currency received from shoppers into dollars and guarantees an exchange rate for merchants.
Gallippi says he expects the move by WordPress to spur other merchants to overcome their concerns. "Now that WordPress has taken the plunge, there's an example the lawyers can review and look at and say ‘Maybe we can try it, too.'"
