A recent report published by The Why Forum found that global Bitcoin transactions have increased more than tenfold over the past year to an average £40m per day in February 2014, making the virtual currency a trend difficult to ignore for some businesses.
According to the e-commerce platform Venda, new research carried out by YouGov, sampling 2,052 adults in the UK, showed that the majority of those asked (71%) would not like to have the option to pay using the virtual currency. Of those who did, they wanted the option because they considered it a valid currency and therefore felt it should be available (8%).
The anonymity offered by Bitcoin appealed to 6% of those polled, who like the fact they can make purchases without having to reveal their identity. Other reasons consumers gave for using Bitcoin were discounts from retailers for using the new virtual currency (5%) or no longer having to carry cash (5%).
According to CoinMap, a map where anyone can identify businesses accepting Bitcoin, there are now more than 280 businesses in the UK that accept the currency. Products and services, online and offline, from Angus in the north to Devon in the south, it seems you can buy just about anything, anywhere, using this new currency. It appears that small businesses that have geeky customers and tech-savvy owners are the first to embrace it, while the larger brands remain wary.
Buy a pint
When pub owner Carlos Pires of The Port Royal in Exeter was asked to host a local tech meetup, the organiser only had one request: that Carlos allow members to pay for their £3 pints with Bitcoin. Always open to new business opportunities, Carlos did a bit of research and realised that it was relatively straightforward for him to meet their demand. As his customers placed orders, he ran everything through the till as normal, then pulled out his smartphone with the Bitcoin app and collected payment from the guest's phone.
Carlos explained that one drawback is that, while the cost of lager in The Port Royal remains pretty constant, the value of the Bitcoin payment he gets fluctuates. Although this isn't a particularly big problem today because Bitcoin transactions are only a small part of his total turnover and he never holds more than the equivalent of £100 in the bank. On the plus side, he said that accepting Bitcoin does away with card and bank charges.
Charter a private jet
Carol Cork, the co-founder of PrivateFly, a booking service for private jets based in St Albans, also looked into accepting Bitcoin following demand from customers. With a price tag of £9,000 for a two-day return flight from London to Nice, verifying payment before departure is a key priority.
As Carol explains: "With any method of payment that our customers choose, we undertake rigorous fraud checks and due diligence, and the same applies to those that pay with Bitcoin. We make it our job to know our customers well, and will always have full visibility of their identity documents, including passports."
Learn to make sushi
Self-proclaimed tech enthusiast Manu Letellier is the founder of Your Sushi, which provides sushi-making classes across the country. He wanted to stay ahead of the game by being the first to offer customers the chance to pay using Bitcoin, but another reason was to use Bitcoin deposits as a back-up savings account.
"We are sushi chefs, but we are not stupid," he explained. "If currencies like sterling, the dollar and other deflated currencies actually let the hyperinflation run away, we need to be prepared."
Letellier thought that offering his customers the opportunity to pay using Bitcoin would be more popular than it has so far proven to be, but partly blames himself for not promoting it more. He can't foresee any issues accepting Bitcoin in future, but thinks retailers might face problems from the regular banking system as its popularity grows.
High street workaround
It looks as if it will take the larger retailers a bit longer before they consider accepting Bitcoin. But brands such as Argos are certainly keeping their eye on things. "Argos aims to be at the forefront of new ways for customers to shop and we continually monitor the evolution of new payment mechanisms, such as digital wallets," said Argos' chief digital officer, Bertrand Bodson. "Bitcoin is a payment initiative that we continue to monitor as part of this evolution."
Organisations like CoinScrum and others are trying to lobby by educating retailers to accept the currency, but there is a little website called Crypto de Change, which allows you to buy regular sterling gift cards from big brand stores using Bitcoin.
Christer Holloman is the chairman of First Tuesday – follow him on Twitter @holloman
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