Online retailer Overstock.com has announced that it will begin accepting bitcoins as a form of payment as of next year. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the company's CEO revealed plans for the site to become the first major retailer to use the cryptocurrency, beginning in the second half of 2014.
"I think we'll pick up market share...the market share of people who'd prefer to pay in bitcoin, with an honest currency," Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne told the newspaper, adding that the move to accept bitcoins is also a principled one that is "part and parcel with my belief in a limited government--that if you want limited government you can't give it power to expand the monetary base."
However, the announcement is perhaps a little ill-timed, given the recent shakeup in the bitcoin market that sent the currency's value crashing after a major Chinese trading platform halted the use of Chinese yuan. The digital currency platform could look very different a few months from now, with the likes of Litecoin, Dogecoin, and other such variations popping up.
[via TechCrunch]
