| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Benefits of Crypto-Currencies Highlighted
There are many reasons that merchants, consumers and businesses should consider accepting crypto-currency payments Melanie Swan, founder and CEO of the Institute for Blockchain Studies told the audience at the recent Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Payments Symposium.
Some larger merchants, including Overstock, Newsegg, DISH and Expedia, already accept Bitcoin, and more are expected to accept blockchain-based payments soon, according to Swan.
Beyond acceptance by large merchants, Swan sees a large potential market for the small, $2-10 payments, which are expensive in terms of overhead for payments providers, interchange for merchants (for credit card payments) and for consumers in terms of fees. She is looking to a couple of different technology companies to provide consumer-ready applications so consumers can easily use blockchain currencies without needing to know how the blockchain works.
The other advantage that blockchain-based payments offer is the immediacy of payment, which is truly real time, just like cash.
“It’s like e-mail money, or skype for money,” Swan said. She added that Bitcoin has gained trust of users.
“There are hacking scandals that go with the space,” Swan admitted. However, by making the blockchain software open-sourced code, any such scandals are quickly discovered and rectified. So Bitcoin has gained trust that it didn’t have when it was initially launched.
However, block-chain currencies do carry a fluctuation risk not typical of cash or card-based payment transactions, except for the cross-border transactions that carry exchange rate risk. Like dealing in foreign transactions, any blockchain-based payments that aren’t immediately converted to cash can be worth more or less at a future time.
Source: http://mobilemarketingandtechnology.com/2015/10/12/benefits-of-crypto-currencies-highlighted/
