Internet commerce giant Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) announced today that merchants who are making use of their small to mid-sized e-commerce products and who sell online here in the United States can now also accept bitcoin payments alongside traditional means (such as credit cards, wire transfers, bank transfers, and other third-party wallet services).
“Bitcoin continues to attract more mainstream attention,” says Tom Peterson, executive vice president and general manager of commerce at the Minnesota-based company. “We’re excited to be among the first pure play ecommerce providers to make the cryptocurrency available for small to mid-sized businesses interested in providing their online shoppers more payment choices and added convenience.
“Because Digital River acts as the merchant- and seller-of-record, our international base of customers can accept and process bitcoin payments in their U.S. online stores with less risk than they could on their own,” he added. “In addition, this business model creates an opportunity for our customers to offer payment solutions that may be in earlier stages of adoption in their domestic markets.”
The company has teamed up with Coinbase of San Francisco to make the acceptance possible, which will allow the company to convert digital currency payments into local fiat currency.
“The payments world is energized by talks of digital currencies,” says Souheil Badran, Digital River World Payments’ senior vice president and general manager. “One of the bigger risks faced by merchants is dealing with the volatility of the digital currency market. Partnering with Coinbase allows Digital River to help mitigate that risk for our customers.”
“With Digital River’s expertise in the global commerce and payments industry, we’re proud to support the extension of their payment options for small to mid-sized businesses,” Coinbase’s Adam White said. “This partnership is another positive step forward in bringing bitcoin payments to the everyday consumer.”
The company has processed about $30 billion worth of payments from thousands of clients in 200 countries/territories last year.