A move by Agora Commodities, a seller of gold bullion, to accept online payment only through bitcoin and remove credit card payment as an option, reiterates an increasingly positive perception of the decentralized currency as a non-fraudulent transaction option.
Agora Commodities has now been accepting Bitcoin since January 2014 and has seen over $10 million in revenue in cryptocurrencies.
Joseph Castillo, the owner of Agora Commodities, has definitely set a debate raging by insisting on only Bitcoin payment and doing away completely with the earlier credit card payment option at his webstore.
The winning factor, which propelled Castillo to make the switch to cryptocurrency, was the safety it provided him from card fraud. As he explained to industry publication Coindesk, his decision to move to the bitcoin platform platform was to “protect ourselves against card fraud, we no longer have to do with bitcoin – and that saves us on costs.”
Castillo commends his buyer community as well, for the gold and silver buyers at his website were quick to see the benefits and security features to their advantage and have moved from Visa cards to blockchain-based asset transfers.
The ease of use of cryptocurrency has definitely set Castillo on the path of full-fledged virtual currency platform and he is expected to begin a standalone BTC exchange, which will allow bullion buyers to move easily between fiat, BTC all within one platform.
In explanation he offers, “Bitcoin fits perfectly with gold and silver, right? So if people come to the site and want to buy gold and silver, why wouldn’t they want to buy bitcoin from us as well!”
The current processing fees for credit cards which is in the 2-4% range definitely drives quicker adoption of the lesser-priced BTC exchange, Castillo explained.