WordPress has removed its Bitcoin payment option and it has given a non-committal answer when asked if it will return.
The news was quietly made, with no announcement coming from WordPress or its Bitcoin partner Bitpay. CoinDesk broke the news yesterday. Third party applications and plug-ins that utilize Bitcoin are currently working on the platform.
WordPress Co-Founder, Matt Mullenweg, responded to the CoinDesk article by posting in the comments, stating that the bitcoin payment option has been removed while they streamline things, and that putting it back in isn't a high priority because bitcoin payments equaled a lower volume compared to other options.
“We're still big believers in Bitcoin, but we're doing some major refactoring and streamlining of our checkout process right now and Bitcoin is lower in priority since it's relatively low volume compared to our more traditional transaction options. We will definitely keep in mind adding Bitcoin support back in the future.”
The non-committal “definitely keep [re-adding bitcoin support] in mind” comment is the most worrying. 2014 was filled with major companies adopting the currency even as the price continued to drop. Dell, Microsoft and Paypal's Braintree were just a few of the companies that jumped on the Bitcoin bandwagon in 2014. Wordpress was an early adopter of the currency, accepting it as far back as 2012. This is the first time such a large company has started accepting bitcoin for payment, only to remove the option later. The WordPress page that previously touted Bitcoin's virtues has been removed, according to CoinDesk.
Considering WordPress’s extensive experience with Bitcoin, it is hard to imagine a scenario where they benefit by removing the option to let customers pay with bitcoin. The volatility of bitcoin is often cited as the currency's most visible weakness.
However, WordPress uses a payment processor and would have the option to convert their bitcoin into fiat on a daily basis, circumventing the risk involved with any price swings. Seemingly, WordPress was simply disappointed by the lack of volume in BTC sales and don’t see the benefit of adding it back as quickly as possible.
WordPress is the web's most popular content creation platform, serving over 60 million websites, including The New York Times, TechCrunch, and CNN.
We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
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