The online booking website Expedia now accepts hotel reservation payments made in Bitcoins.
In the United States, the Expedia group is preparing to accept the payment of hotel rooms in bitcoins.
The online travel agency is working directly with CoinBase a digital wallet, which converts bitcoins to dollars as soon as they reach the agency’s accounts. The company brings together today more than 32,000 e-retailers and 1.3 million individual accounts.
If the tests done are successful and the appetite of users for this digital currency is improving, Expedia could expand this payment option on flight bookings, car rentals and other proposed activities.
It would become the first major player in tourism to accept virtual currency for online payments. Other smaller online travel websites such as CheapAir are already using it.
While the company has not yet officially announced this measure, a big question still remains. How will the currency exchange with hotels be initiated?
At the moment, a spokesman for the group announced on its website techcrunch.com: "Expedia has chosen the hospitality industry because it had the highest demands on the market.”
[
The online travel agency is working directly with CoinBase a digital wallet, which converts bitcoins to dollars as soon as they reach the agency’s accounts. The company brings together today more than 32,000 e-retailers and 1.3 million individual accounts.
If the tests done are successful and the appetite of users for this digital currency is improving, Expedia could expand this payment option on flight bookings, car rentals and other proposed activities.
It would become the first major player in tourism to accept virtual currency for online payments. Other smaller online travel websites such as CheapAir are already using it.
While the company has not yet officially announced this measure, a big question still remains. How will the currency exchange with hotels be initiated?
At the moment, a spokesman for the group announced on its website techcrunch.com: "Expedia has chosen the hospitality industry because it had the highest demands on the market.”
[
Bitcoin, the new trending mode of payment
Minimizing transaction costs, Bitcoin is already used by thousands of users worldwide.
Long criticized, and considered unreliable, virtual currency is now attracting more and more brands: Apple has been allowing developers to create applications for the transfer of bitcoins, and by the end of the year Paypal or the French Monoprix should accept payments in bitcoins online and in its network of stores.
By integrating bitcoin, Expedia is sending a message to its users that the company is up to par with technological innovations.
The online travel agency also sees this virtual currency as a way to convince even the most skeptical to make online payments.
Because with bitcoin, they do not need to use their ATM card.
Long criticized, and considered unreliable, virtual currency is now attracting more and more brands: Apple has been allowing developers to create applications for the transfer of bitcoins, and by the end of the year Paypal or the French Monoprix should accept payments in bitcoins online and in its network of stores.
By integrating bitcoin, Expedia is sending a message to its users that the company is up to par with technological innovations.
The online travel agency also sees this virtual currency as a way to convince even the most skeptical to make online payments.
Because with bitcoin, they do not need to use their ATM card.
What is Bitcoin?
Created in 2009, this is a virtual currency payment system through Internet. It is also a unit of account. It allows transaction transfers from peer to peer, with very little extra fees. Users can use it around the world without worrying about exchange rates.
Bitcoin has no centralized authority. There are so-called "minors", who check if the Bitcoin transaction has taken place. Minors make mathematical calculations through their hardware on the Bitcoin network to confirm the transactions and insure their safety. As a reward for their services, they collect the newly created bitcoins and the transaction fees that they supervised.
The Banking and Resolution Control Commission just published a statement that sets out the rules for buying and selling bitcoins in France. Only credit, payment or electric money institutions will be allowed to carry out this activity.
The unofficial symbol of this new currency is represented by a B crossed out twice vertically. The corresponding abbreviations are BTC and XBT.
Bitcoin has a course that costs around $635 is about €470.
Bitcoin has no centralized authority. There are so-called "minors", who check if the Bitcoin transaction has taken place. Minors make mathematical calculations through their hardware on the Bitcoin network to confirm the transactions and insure their safety. As a reward for their services, they collect the newly created bitcoins and the transaction fees that they supervised.
The Banking and Resolution Control Commission just published a statement that sets out the rules for buying and selling bitcoins in France. Only credit, payment or electric money institutions will be allowed to carry out this activity.
The unofficial symbol of this new currency is represented by a B crossed out twice vertically. The corresponding abbreviations are BTC and XBT.
Bitcoin has a course that costs around $635 is about €470.
