Speaking on the RT news network recently, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne revealed a bit of information with regard to the company’s bitcoin acceptance plans.
Byrne noted that in a month to six-week period, Overstock.com will be enabling bitcoin payments for the international community, including for the folks in Russia.
The news comes over seven months since the Utah-based company enabled the payment system in partnership with Coinbase, after making an announcement (to NEWSBTC) in December of last year.
When I interviewed Patrick Byrne then, the original plan was to begin accepting bitcoin in the second half of 2014 (about this time of the year, really). Due to overwhelming press attention, however, the company was forced to speed up the process to prevent major competitors from beating them into integration first.
[ot-video type=”youtube” url=”http://youtu.be/5pf_uYiEQGk?t=15m41s”]
(Video reference: international announcement begins at 15:40)
In all, the integration process took eight days, and Byrne notes that the Coinbase system has worked flawlessly right along.
Overstock.com embracing bitcoin and digital currency has arguably done enormous things for the community. Other companies such as TigerDirect, Newegg, and Expedia have watched, taken notes, and begun accepting bitcoin themselves.
And if you thought Overstock’s interest in bitcoin was purely a PR stunt, you’re well mistaken. Byrne himself is a huge fan of cryptocurrencies and has even picked up several million dollars worth of bitcoin for himself.
On top of that, Overstock.com keeps a small percentage of bitcoin revenue as just that, bitcoin (while most other merchants convert 100 percent to local currency).
The company recently announced plans to donate a portion of the bitcoin they keep to various causes that promote cryptocurrency adoption.