The senior vice president of eBay Americas has said that it is ‘seriously considering’ accepting bitcoin as a payment method.
Speaking to Yahoo! Finance, Scott Cutler, said that while the company was thinking about it, they are ‘not quite there yet.’ However, the consideration comes at a time when bitcoin’s price has been soaring to record heights as more investors turn to it as an investment option. As a result, more companies are starting to consider the possibilities of the digital currency as a viable payment option.
At the beginning of 2017, bitcoin was valued at a mere $1,000, with a market cap worth just $16 billion. At the time, that was considered a significant milestone; however, fast-forward to today and the number one digital currency is trading at over $16,000 at time of publishing, with a market value within touching distance of $300 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
This rise in value is due to an increase in the number of traders from Asia, in addition to the launch of Chicago-based exchange Cboe’s bitcoin futures contract, which commenced its first full day of trading on Monday. Since the launch, Ed Tilly, Cboe’s CEO, said that everything had gone according to plan.
Yet, despite the fact that bitcoin is experiencing a record rise in value, with an influx of new investors, the number of people accepting it as a form of payment remains low. According to Yahoo! Finance, though, Overstock.com, has seen a 250 percent rise in the last six months as interest for the cryptocurrency continues. In 2014, Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as a form of payment for purchases.
However, even though the number of people accepting bitcoin as a form of payment remains low for the moment, it’s possible that this won’t remain the case for long.
In New York, a preschool has announced that it is going to start accepting digital currencies for school payments. Whereas, mobile payments company Square unveiled that it unrolled a new feature on its Square Cash app for a select number of users allowing them to make hold and make bitcoin payments.
These are just a few examples of where the digital currency is being employed for everyday purchases. Nevertheless, it signals the potential that the cryptocurrency holds and where it is heading in the future. With the launch of the first bitcoin futures already underway – fellow Chicago-based exchange CME Group is to follow on Monday – it’s projected that this will help to push the cryptocurrency further into the mainstream.
With eBay keen to improve the services it offers to its customers to that of Amazon, it may be that the online marketplace may soon be accepting bitcoin as a form of payment to boost its competitiveness.