Retailers in Japan to Start Accepting Bitcoin Payments

Bitcoin exchange Quoine and payments network Econtext recently struck a deal that can allow over 20,000 online and physical retailers in Japan to start accepting bitcoin payments soon. Merchants that are already using Econtext’s payment processing services in thousands of online stores can accept bitcoin payments without having to register under a bitcoin-specific processor.

This deal has been in the works since last year and is already available to businesses this month. “For us, it’s a pretty significant deal,” said Quione CEO Mario Gomez Lozada.

More Merchants Accepting Bitcoin Payments

All around the globe, more and more merchants have been joining the bandwagon in accepting bitcoin payments. The move to tap the Japanese market could prove to be a challenging one after the shutdown of bitcoin Mt. Gox due to insolvency months ago.

The interface offered by Quoine and Econtext allows merchants and customers to lock in the bitcoin rate for the particular purchase for 30 minutes even if the price of bitcoin fluctuates over that span of time. This way, people no longer need to worry about price volatility while making their purchases online.

The Quoine exchange can be integrated with the merchant’s checkout system and supplies a bitcoin price for the merchant to quote to the customer. Econtext supplies a payment method selection screen for its merchants to use, which will now feature a bitcoin option and display QR codes customers can use to make the payment.

“Our growth has been quite significant in terms of volume, it’s been quite amazing and we continue to see volumes going up,” remarked Lozada on the recent developments in Quoine. The exchange currently averages volumes of between 500 and 1,000 BTC a day, with activity picking up during holiday periods.

The exchange also allows up to 25x margin trading (with bitcoin or fiat collateral), algorithmic trading, Japanese yen futures, interest-earning bitcoin lending and API access.