Expedia to accept Bitcoin payments for hotel bookings.Lets get steem there!!
One of the world's largest online travel agencies, Expedia, has become the latest company to accept Bitcoin transactions as a form of payment.
The firm will initially accept the virtual currency for hotel bookings only, and is currently restricting the trial to its US site.
But one Bitcoin watcher told the BBC this was "a big move" for the currency.
Expedia's announcement comes after a turbulent few months for Bitcoin, which has been plagued by security concerns.
A number of smaller online travel sites already accept virtual currencies, including Travel Keys and CheapAir, but Expedia is the first company of its size to adopt Bitcoin.
Emily Spaven, managing editor of Bitcoin news site CoinDesk, told the BBC the move was "brilliant news" and it "brings digital currency further into the consciousness of the mainstream".
'Still volatile'
Expedia will use Bitcoin exchange Coinbase for processing transactions, but Mr Gulmann told the Wall Street Journal that the firm would not hold the currency, but would convert its Bitcoin deposits back into US dollars every 24 hours.
However, as Ms Spaven points out, "that's what most of the big companies are doing, because [the price of] Bitcoin is still massively volatile".
Bitcoin, which is the world's most prominent crypto-currency, has been the subject of much controversy in recent months.
The collapse of Japanese Bitcoin exchange MtGox, following a number of security breaches, harmed the currency's reputation, and there have been several controversies surrounding taxation of transactions made with Bitcoin.
But, the digital currency took another step closer to the mainstream this week, with both Google and Yahoo adding its conversion price to its financial tools.
This is great news. More and more companies will accept bitcoin and later on other crypto as a form of payment. Once people start to see the advantages in decentralized money, we will get to the high predictions we all hope for.
yes sir i agree but still there is long way to cover.
Absolutely! Thanks for replying to my comment on your post. It feels good to be surrounded with people that get cryptocurrency. In the real life people tend to be jaleous because they feel like they missed out. We are still in the beginning and like you say... we do have a long way to go. Keep up the good work with the posts. 👍
Soon All travel company will do such kind of things