(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, November 21, 2012 ) San Francisco, CA -- WordPress.com, the cloud version of blogging and not to be confused with WordPress.org, has announced it will accept payments via Bitcoin. It will also honor the standard payments of credit cards and PayPal.
“This is a huge boost for Bitcoin—this is the first time that a well-known company is taking Bitcoin,” Jerry Brito, a researcher at George Mason University, who has studied Bitcoin extensively, told Ars.
“The fact that a company like WordPress is taking Bitcoin, it shows that [the currency] is widespread enough to trust it, but I wonder after a year if they can tell us how much of their revenue will be paid in Bitcoin... It's going to introduce a lot of people to Bitcoin and it’s a vote of confidence.”
WordPress noted the move was made as it was easier for its customers, who might pay rather small fees, to make payments for goods though Bitcoin.
“PayPal alone blocks access from over 60 countries, and many credit card companies have similar restrictions,” wrote Andy Skelton, a WordPress developer, in a blog post. “Some are blocked for political reasons, some because of higher fraud rates, and some for other financial reasons. Whatever the reason, we don’t think an individual blogger from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere because of payment issues they can’t control. Our goal is to enable people, not block them.”
Skelton took the time to state that WordPress would honor its refunding policy to Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin community has attempted to make itself more legitimate, despite the pressure from law enforcement it has seen as of late.
WordPress was quick to make it clear that it had no holdings in Bitcoins, and it was not interested it seeking one. Because of that, BitPay will be taking sole possession of the risk.
“We’re insulating the business from the volatility risk,” Tony Gallippi, BitPay’s CEO, told Ars. Ars stated that BitPay will process the amount into US dollars at the moment of transaction. The following day, BitPay sends payment to WordPress in a single lump sum from the previous day, taking a 2.69% fee.
“Personally I’ve talked to hundreds of businesses and they look at what we have and they say that nobody is asking for Bitcoin, and to please come back when it’s more popular,” he told Ars.
About Clone My Website:
Clone My Website (http://www.clonemywebsite.com) gives visitors a chance to learn how they can succeed online. Learn why some sites fail while others succeed, and then learn what Clone My Website can do for a company’s chances of success.
