News Flash: Fortune 500 Giant Adopts Bitcoin and Bitcon Cash, Bringing Cryptocurrency to 2.1 Million Customers
Hi Steemians,
Fortune 500 tech firm Avnet is adopting crypto payments, allowing customers to pay in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash for the company’s software solutions. The company is catering to professionals in the tech industry.
According to the announcement,
“Today’s developers are looking for flexibility as they take their products to market, and this announcement provides our customers with more convenient ways to complete their financial transactions.”
Avnet is working with industry leader BitPay, which processes over $1 billion annually in cryptocurrency payments, to facilitate the new payment option.
“When a customer elects to make a purchase with Bitcoin (BTC) or Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Avnet will work with BitPay to verify the funds, process the order and complete the transaction. Avnet and BitPay will also have the ability to manage and process cryptocurrency requests outside the US on a country-by-country basis.”
The tech firm is focused on the rise of Bitcoin, which crossed 290,000 on-chain transactions on Saturday. Avnet says it’s preparing for the changing the landscape, and “positioning ourselves – and our clients – to be ready for it.”
Avnet highlights the following advantages of crypto payment.
Real-time conversion rates, calculated down to a 15 minute window
A fixed 1% fee, “which will look like nothing” compared with traditional intermediaries
Ease of use of online platforms
Avnet is currently working with Bitcoin.com to develop a new hardware wallet for secure cryptocurrency storage, and says it already processed several multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency transactions within the first month of accepting Bitcoin.
Says Sonny Singh, chief commercial officer at BitPay,
“Not only is paying with Bitcoin easier and faster than with credit cards and bank wires, it is less expensive and acceptance of it is growing. I predict Avnet will attract many new blockchain-focused customers from around the world that want to take advantage of paying with bitcoin.”
In 2016, Avnet acquired San Francisco-based Hackster.io, which claims to be the world’s fastest growing developer community for learning, programming and building hardware. Hackster, which posted an IOTA competition worth $10,000 in prizes, has a global reach of nearly half a million innovators and hundreds of technology partners.
Sign up! @hacksterio webinar (March 8): Learn more about how IOTA technology is empowering smart cities. Win 10K in prizes & get exposure to our prominent industry partners.
Webinar link: https://t.co/12GH7t3pVD
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— IOTA (@iotatoken) March 1, 2019
The company employees over 15,000 people in 125 locations across North America, Europe and Asia, with more than 1,400 technology suppliers serving 2.1 million customers in more than 140 countries. It will give Bitcoin massive exposure to a wide range of industries with its integrated solutions for automotive, communications, healthcare, industrial, military and aerospace, security, wearables and other markets.
Avnet reported revenue of $19.04 billion in 2018, ranking #128 on the 2018 Fortune 500. The company, which became Intel’s first distributor in 1973, is one of the largest suppliers of semiconductors, relays and potentiometers. It counts Dell, Asus, Seagate, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Micron among its suppliers.
Cheers
Raj