Bitcoinis ruling over the crypto currency marketplace, and increasingly more companies are starting to accept bitcoins as payment mode. Buying products online with the digital currency has never been easier. The online software-based payment system introduced in 2009 has revolutionized the way people buy and sell products and services online. To see how businesses can begin accepting Bitcoin, go here.
Dutch hotels accepting Bitcoin
easyHotel, a Dutch hotel franchise, now accepts bitcoins for room reservations. On their official website, there's a "pay in Bitcoin" option travelers can use upon checkout. It generates a QR code, a BitPay invoice, and a wallet address to complete the payment. Integrating the digital currency into the hotel industry highlights the imminent growth of the Bitcoin.
Another Dutch accommodation facility known as Cocomama claims to accept booking payments with Bitcoin. Apparently, they plan on using a POS-system to process the transactions that will soon be available on their official website.
Anika and Lotje are two proud owners of Cocomama, Amsterdam's first boutique hostel. They started the business in 2009 when they came across an old brothel. They fell in love with the construction, and although they had to deal with a lot of legal issues, they finally managed to turn it into a beautiful hostel in 2010.
Online grocery store Livepura accepts Bitcoin
Livepura is an online grocery store that sells a wealth of healthy foods. The website was created by two friends who loved to travel, and wanted to purchase the healthiest foods with Bitcoin.
- Live Pura's Homepage, featuring news about its Bitcoin acceptance
They realized they couldn't, so they took matters into their own hands and built the service themselves. With over 20,000 products available, Livepura welcomes customers to purchase the best organic, fresh and refrigerated items locally using Bitcoin. Products are delivered to people's doors and the platform also offer express delivery options for customers.
Everyone in North America can now live on Bitcoin. t.co/ilcKkkLHgN
— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) July 29, 2014
Jiu Jitsu beach camp accepts Bitcoin
BJJ Globetrotters Beach Camp is a paradise-style surf and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu camp held annually in El Salvador, one of the world's most beautiful and breathtaking places you will ever see. The organizers of the camp are strongly committed to offering luxury, top class BJJ vacations. They have all-inclusive services, so upon payment all you need to do is arrive at the airport. According to the official website, it looks like the beach camp accept Bitcoin as payment mode. So if you're not interested in using a credit card to pay for a 7-night accommodation, use bitcoins.
Buy honey online with Bitcoin
Beerbelly Bees is an online provider of raw Ohio honey. Beerbelly Bees takes great pride in their product line. Each bottle of honey comes from a single hive of bees. Thus, the honey has a unique flavor, based on a specific flower mix the bees visited. The online shop has decided to accept only Bitcoin. The website states:
“As fun experiment, our online sales accept Bitcoin exclusively!
“We now plan to use BitPay, but are currently encountering some issue...so for the time being payment processing will be through Coinbase.”
Ukraine Orphanage gets some extra help from Bitcoin
Ukraine orphanage praises the Bitcoin community for helping them raise US$1,500. The process seemed complex at first because they didn't understand how to exchange bitcoins in Ukraine. The good news is they figured it out eventually, and they're extremely thankful to the Bitcoin community for their assistance. They really helped the orphanage get closer to the digital world and raise a great amount of money for the kids.
Located in Slavyansk, Ukraine, the orphanage was completely destroyed by the war, and currently 116 children are left without a home. The administrators of the orphanage mentioned they just relocated to a different city, and that donations of any sort are greatly appreciated.
RNLI accepts donations with Bitcoin
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) announced that they're now accepting donations via Bitcoin. Deputy Director of Communications and Fundraising, Leesa Hardwood, mentions:
“The RNLI has a history of innovation in fundraising, holding the first street collection in 1891. Bitcoin is an innovative new kind of currency and we believe that accepting Bitcoin will result in donations we may not otherwise receive, as well as connecting us with new types of supporters.”
The Bitcoin donations are received via a dedicated page, and the charity has mentioned that if the scheme thrives, they may be integrating the crypto currency into their standard donation pages. Ms. Hardwood added:
“From our research into future trends, it looked likely that we would receive digital currency as a donation or as part of a legacy at some point and we wanted to be prepared for that eventuality. So a project team was founded to look at the feasibility of accepting Bitcoin, which has led to the pilot scheme we are launching today”.
The Republican Liberty Caucus Accepts Bitcoins, Thanks to CoinVox
The Republican Liberty Caucus has hired CoinVox to help libertarian-leaning candidates incorporate Bitcoin into their fundraising platform. The partnership is great news for CoinVox, considering the company was just launched 6 weeks ago, in Silicon Valley. Christopher David, CoinVox founder, expressed the importance of persuading politicians to get to know the crypto currency prior to the 2014 midterm elections. He added:
"Our business model is all about proactively engaging Washington on this issue, [...]. We're giving politicians an easy on ramp to begin engaging with bitcoin."
The Republican Liberty Caucus is CoinVox's best way of getting Bitcoin contributions incorporated into political fundraising scheme. Thus far, Caucus donated US$4,000 to federal candidates, and their Republican Federal Campaign Fund, PAC, spent more than US$11,000 to make themselves noticed back in 2012.
Game live-streaming platform Twitch Welcomes New Turbo Payment Options Including Bitcoin
Twitch is a top-tier online community for gamers and video platform with over 45 million visitors/month. The company's goal is to connect avid gamers around the world by permitting them to watch, chat and broadcast from everywhere they play. Twitch recently partnered with Xsolla, and thus it now offers more than 600 new ways to pay for Twitch Turbo subscriptions.
Users can now use payment options like gift cards, PaySafeCard, bank accounts, and Bitcoin. To see all payment options, users are invited to click on More Methods, right under Payment Options. Scroll through the available options, select your preferred country and check payment options. Afterwards, choose your subscription's term and your transaction is done.
It should also be noted that Twitch has been acquired by Google, leaving many in online forums users asking the obvious question:
Bonus: Returns on Bitcoin investments helped WikiLeaks stay afloat
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, mentioned in his latest book that his company survived as a result of some "strategic Bitcoin investments" that helped them cover serious legal and financial costs. WikiLeaks is a notorious journalistic outlet whose controversial work has convinced organizations like MasterCard, PayPal and VISA to block funds sent as donations, with the sole purpose of crippling the organization. Back in 2011 Assange told Google’s Eric Schmidt:
“[Bitcoin] is very important, actually,”“It has a few problems but its innovations exceed its problems.”
Thanks to Bitcoin, WikiLeaks managed to raise funds without fearing that some government official will confiscate their money.