Bitcoin has had its ups and downs. The entirely digital currency has seen high-profile thefts, potential debit cards, and even botnets. Even so, the legitimacy of Bitcoin is often questioned, and its detractors often compare it Monopoly money: Valuable within the game, but worthless otherwise. Looks like the naysayers might have been wrong. WordPress has begun accepting Bitcoins, and Monopoly money is still only Monopoly money.
WordPress explains why they’ve started accepting Bitcoins:
PayPal alone blocks access from over 60 countries, and many credit card companies have similar restrictions. Some are blocked for political reasons, some because of higher fraud rates, and some for other financial reasons. Whatever the reason, we don’t think an individual blogger from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere because of payment issues they can’t control. Our goal is to enable people, not block them.
In other words, they want people that haven’t traditionally been able to give them money to be able to give them money. Sounds exactly like the kind of reasoning that any Internet business might make. Why not make more money than you are right now by accepting other forms of currency? As long as the market doesn’t just up and disappear, they’ll be able to cash these in.
How about that. Bitcoin might really be here to stay.
(WordPress via Hacker News)
- 78% of Bitcoins are stashed away in digital mattresses
- Bandit burgles 24,000 Bitcoins
- The Bitcoin debit card
