Overstock considers cryptocurrency as a much more efficient way of processing payments than credit cards.
An online retail giant, Overstock is one of the premier companies accepting cryptocurrencies for payments, with a long history of blockchain-friendly attitudes. In an address to the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, Overstock board member Jonathan Johnson stated that the company incurred much higher expenses processing credit card transactions than transacting with cryptocurrencies:
“We pay a processing fee for credit cards, and we employ about 40 people in our fraud department. That’s a cost of doing business with credit cards. When we take cryptocurrency, we have a very small transaction fee with Coinbase, much smaller than our credit card processing fee, and we have no fraud prevention department. It’s like a cash transaction. For us, that is a much cheaper way of doing business.”
Overstock was one of the first major retailers to accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with Bitcoin over four years ago. Since then they accept a variety of coins through a ShapeShift integration.
Cryptocurrencies combine the best of cash and digital payments
Accepting payments in cryptocurrency provides several benefits over relying on credit card payments. In addition to mitigating the fraud issues as outlined by Overstock, payments-focused coins like Dash have significantly lower fees. Additionally, accounts are permissionless, meaning anyone can download a wallet and start sending and receiving funds. This is particularly important to businesses such as the cannabis industry, whose uneven legal status has caused many businesses to forego payments solutions and pushed them to operate on a cash-only model.
Alt Thirty Six and @Dashpay solve this issue! Power your dispensary with digital cash.. https://t.co/kZkT7Lhb1U
— Alt Thirty Six (@altthirtysix) June 8, 2018
Unlike cash, however, cryptocurrency is fast and easy to send anywhere in the world, without great transfer risk. It is also easier to denominate and far cheaper to secure, leading to a much more attractive option, when widely used, than either cash or banking and payments services. Because of this, businesses like Alt Thirty Six that provide cryptocurrency-powered payment solutions may see a sharp rise in popularity in coming years.
Dash use is on the rise in underserved areas
While accepting payments in Dash makes sense for businesses in all economic environments, marginalized markets are where it truly shines, which has been reflected in adoption. As a result, Venezuela, which is undergoing a currency and economic crisis, currently ranks #1 for Dash adoption globally, recently passing the US. This includes areas such as New Hampshire which have traditionally had extremely high rates of cryptocurrency adoption.
