Byte Technology—located in Bloomington, Minn., Monterey, Calif., and Denver, Colo.—announces its plans to accept Bitcoin as an alternative payment method for its clients. The new “virtual currency” Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer payment technology, is enjoying an impressive wave of popularity across the globe, changing perceptions of how individuals and companies large and small conduct business across worldwide markets.
“We love emerging technology,” says Terry Low, CEO of Byte Technology, “and we especially like offering our customers progressive options when it comes to payments.”
Bitcoin, a decentralized online currency market, is similar to Paypal or Dropbox, where purchases for goods and services are hosted through exchanges that make the transfer of monies quick and highly efficient. A customer sets up a Bitcoin “wallet,” and makes deposits into the account, and then seamlessly makes a payment through a secure online address or third-party service such as Bitpay. In the end, it’s much like using a debit or credit card: customers just enter the wallet address, the cost of the item, and hit “pay.”
Already some of the biggest product and service companies in the world are accepting Bitcoin payments, including immensely popular blog platform WordPress; social news and entertainment site Reddit; domain registration heavyweight Namecheap; gift e-tailer Etsy; dating site OKCupid; and the cloud-based secure storage service Mega. Adding to the already considerable Bitcoin buzz is news that British billionaire Richard Branson is accepting the payment form for his planned commercial space flights on Virgin Galactic.
The benefits of using the Bitcoin payment system for companies and consumers operating in the global marketplace are certainly attractive. From a financial standpoint, there’s very low risk of inflation as compared to traditional currencies, meaning Bitcoins won’t lose their purchasing power over time. Additionally, Bitcoin claims its payment process will be safe, simple and cheap; once a Bitcoin transfer is made, the buyer and seller are in a peer-to-peer relationship rather than one dictated by an intermediary. Of course, carrying a virtual wallet is easy: a client could potentially hold millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins on a single memory stick in his or her pocket.
“Of course Byte Technology will continue to offer traditional payment methods for our services,” adds Low. “By bringing the company into the Bitcoin revolution, we’re getting in on the ground floor of the next wave of online financial and business management.”
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Media contacts: Alison Buckneberg – alison@maccabee.com – 612.337.0087
