Dell Accepts Bitcoin

Despite a bumpy road, Bitcoin is still a big player in the financial world and the third largest PC seller on the planet, Dell, has become the latest in a long line of US retailers to begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment online.

In recent months many businesses including travel company Expedia and Overstock.com have started to accept the online virtual currency.  A large percentage of the firms who are using the Bitcoin service have opted to use the payment processor start-up Coinbase.  Dell is by far the biggest company to have made the move to accept Bitcoin.  This move could potentially drag the crypto-currency that little bit closer towards a mainstream adoption.

Dell to accept Bitcoin as an online payment option.

Laura Thomas from Dell, made the announcement in a blog post on the company website, saying that it was “excited to bring you the choice and flexibility this payment option offers”. The I.T. firm’s website also has listed various benefits of using crypto-currencies: “Bitcoin payments can be made easily from anywhere in the world, and offer reduced payment processing costs…You have complete control over your bitcoin, so your bitcoin account isn’t tied to any financial institutions, can’t be frozen and carries lower transaction fees than most major credit cards.”

Co-founder of Coinbase Fred Ehrsam, said that it took only two weeks to go from planning to launching the feature: “We’ve fostered a close partnership with the Dell team and that’s been instrumental in getting the Coinbase integration up and running in such a short timeframe. We look forward to continuing to support the team as they explore other ways to offer even more functionality when it comes to bitcoin payments.”  There is a downside if you happen to live outside the US! Unfortunately for potential UK customers (like myself), Bitcoin as a payment option is not available at the moment.

Dell is offering a 10 per cent discount on Alienware products, up to a limit of $150, to promote the news.  The firm have a global annual revenue of around $57bn.

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[Image via nutech]

SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/dell/10980089/Dell-jumps-on-the-Bitcoin-bandwagon.html