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Elon Musk made waves in February when he announced that Tesla was buying $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and accepting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as a form of payment for his vehicles, another first for Musk in automobile industry.
The revolution was short-lived.
See: 10 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest In For 2021 Check Out: Dogecoin: Is It Still Worth An Investment?
What is often overlooked in the Bitcoin discussion is how terrible it is for the environment. The powerful and specialized computers that are needed to mine Bitcoin gobble up huge amounts of energy, which is why most of it is mined in China, where electricity is very cheap and regulations are lax. Tesla, a company whose entire brand is rooted in sustainable energy, abandoned its Bitcoin offering about three months later. Musk spoke about environmental concerns and the sheer volume of fossil fuels that must be burned to produce a single part. On May 12, Musks mea culpa wiped $ 365 billion from the cryptocurrency market in a single day.
Read: Why Some Money Experts Believe In Bitcoin And Others Don’t
But not all companies share Musk’s concern about green energy. Bitcoin is big and getting bigger and bigger, with some of America’s biggest companies getting on the bandwagon and accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. Here are the top 10 players in the game.
Last updated: May 17, 2021
Microsoft sign at the entrance to their Silicon Valley campus
Microsoft
Microsoft became an early adopter of Bitcoin in 2014 when it began accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method for games, apps, and other digital content for platforms like Windows Phone and Xbox. Bitcoin was still largely unknown in 2014 and many who knew it heard about it for all the wrong reasons. It has been a year of drama and scandal, with the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, collapsing into bankruptcy after a wave of frauds, hacks and incidents that lost hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoins. At that time, a bar in New York City was accepting Bitcoin, as were a few auto services and restaurants, but very few other large companies besides two.
The story continues
Find out: Google, Microsoft beat revenue estimates thanks to cloud services, ad revenue
San Jose, California, USA – April 26, 2018: Exterior view of Paypal headquarters in Silicon Valley.
Pay Pal
If anyone were to beat Microsoft in the fist, it makes sense that it was the company that paved the way for modern digital payments. Microsoft began accepting Bitcoin in late 2014 in December, three months after PayPal joined in September. At the time, Bitcoin was trading as XBT instead of BTC. Reflecting on the lack of awareness of the concept at the time, CNN described Bitcoin as an independent currency with no government. PayPal’s move was intended to attract businesses to its platform, not consumers. That draw was that Bitcoin transaction fees were much lower than the 2-3% fee that kills the profits that businesses pay for credit card transactions.
In The News: Elon Musk Sends Doge Prices On A Roller Coaster After Tesla Drops Bitcoin
Los Angeles, California, USA – June 25, 2019: Editorial illustration of the Overstock website homepage.
Overstock
Before Microsoft got into crypto, and even before PayPal, Overstock.com was leading the way these giants would follow. As early as 2018, CNN reported that Overstock was now a crypto company, an exaggeration based on heavy investments by online retailers in blockchain technology. At that point, before COVID propelled Overstock to its current status as one of the world’s hottest ecommerce platforms, it was already a Bitcoin veteran. In January 2014, nine full months before PayPal took the plunge in September of that year and almost a year before Microsoft Overstock became the first major retailer to accept Bitcoin as a payment method.
The Economy Explained: Breaking Down The Basics Of Cryptocurrency
Whole Foods Market in Irving Texas
Whole foods
In May 2019, a cryptocurrency barrage broke when a payments startup called Flexa teamed up with Gemini, a digital currency company owned by Facebook’s famous Winklevoss twins. The partnership platform allowed large retailers to integrate Flexa into digital scanners they were already using to accept payments over the phone through Apple Pay and other digital wallets. Technology instantly converted Bitcoins to dollars for seamless purchases. One of the first of these large retailers to adopt the technology was Whole Foods. Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, but Amazon itself does not currently accept Bitcoin for purchases made from the world’s largest online retailer.
Find out: What are Altcoins and are the potential rewards worth the risks?
Etsy Marketplace Sign
Etsy
Etsy itself does not have a platform to accept Bitcoin as a payment site, but independent sellers who populate its platform can accept crypto in their individual stores if they wish. It is up to the seller to add another payment method option at checkout. When buyers click on this option, they will be able to message the buyer with their Bitcoin payment preferences, in this case. The seller then responds with a Bitcoin address to complete the transaction. The Etsy community forum has a special Bitcoin dedicated page with tutorials that explain how sellers can advertise that they accept Bitcoin and how to make the process run smoothly.
Read More: Ethereum Everything You Need To Know To Decide If It’s Worth The Investment
Starbucks on Sunset Boulevard
Starbucks
In March 2020, as masks began to cover faces across America and the world, Starbucks announced that it was in a way joining the Bitcoin revolution. Like Etsy, Starbucks dipped its toes in water instead of diving directly into accepting crypto as cash. You cannot pay for your Frappuccinos with Bitcoin at checkout, but you can add Bitcoin with items like gift card balances and frequent flyer miles to the Starbucks app and pay that way. This upgrade was made possible by a third-party digital wallet app called Bakkt which converts Bitcoin into dollars to make payments not only possible, but instant.
See: What is Chainlink and why is it important in the cryptocurrency world?
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada – June 03, 2019: Newegg Canada sign in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, an online retailer selling computer hardware and electronics based in California.
Newegg
Online electronics giant Newegg accepts Bitcoin and has moved all in. Unlike some others that require you to convert crypto to cash through a third-party app or service, Newegg simply allows you to pay directly. For buyers who buy through a computer, all they have to do is choose Pay With Bitcoin ” and track the movement of the shipment. For buyers making purchases with their phone, Newegg will send a QR code to scan. For anyone looking to start harvesting Bitcoin on their own, Newegg also sells cryptocurrency mining starter kits.
The economy and your money: everything you need to know
Home Depot Garden Center
Home deposit
Home Depot also uses the Winklevoss / Flexa system, the same one that allowed Whole Foods to accept Bitcoin through its own digital scanners without investing in new hardware. Retailers must submit balance sheets in dollars regardless of what payment method they accept, which has long been a stumbling block for businesses that wanted to accept Bitcoin but didn’t know how. Flexa converts Bitcoin to dollars instantly, giving both parties what they want. The buyer can spend their Bitcoins when they buy their paint and Ryobi tools, and Home Depot gets the green dollars they need in return.
Read more: Where does cryptocurrency come from?
SHIBUYA, TOKYO, JAPAN – CIRCA AOT 2018: RAKUTEN company logo.
Rakuten
The Japanese cashback / buy site Rakuten began allowing users to choose Bitcoin as a payment option in 2015. As part of a global rollout of Bitcoin, the company started with Rakuten.com in the United States before moving to extend the new service to its counterparts in Germany and Austria. Rakuten has made this possible by integrating the Bitnet payment processing platform into its own marketplaces. He has since developed Rakuten Wallet, which has expanded to support altcoins like Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum. Users can now debit their Rakuten Cash balance using crypto assets.
More Economics Explained: How Cryptocurrency Works and Is It Safe?
Tic
Twitch is the 800 pound gorilla on the video streaming platform block. Like Whole Foods, Twitch is owned by Amazon. Much like Whole Foods, it now accepts cryptocurrency and not just Bitcoin. Users can pay in Bitcoin, but also Bitcoin Cash and Ether, as well as less used coins like BUSD, PAX, GUSD, USDC and XRP. Twitch was an early adopter of crypto, adding it as a payment option in 2014. However, that ended in 2019 when Twitch quietly removed its Bitcoin service. In June 2020, however, Twitch brought back this capability to the delight of its crypto-conscious users.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Big Companies That Accept Bitcoin
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