Tag: Merchants

Major Online Retailer Alza Accepts Bitcoin

Digital currency bitcoin continues to boom. The long-term and short-term growth of bitcoin price, which currently exceeds $ 2,000, attracts more and more attention not only of speculators. Merchants are also being added. A major online retailer Alza accepts bitcoin payments for its electronic products.

It is a big and important event after a long period of some stagnation in expanding the acceptance of the digital currency on the European continent. Alza is the largest internet electronics merchants in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The online store also operates in Austria, Germany and the UK, therefore the news is practically of pan-European importance.

Major Online Retailer Alza Accepts Bitcoin

In addition to accepting bitcoin payments, Alza also installed bitcoin ATM machines from General Bytes in its showrooms in Prague and Bratislava. Customers and users of the digital currency have the opportunity to buy bitcoins for crowns or euros here, or sell bitcoin to euro or crowns. Alza uses the payment gateway of Bitcoinpay during the payment process.

According to Jan Sadílek, internet marketing director, Alza’s customers have been demanding bitcoin payments and the company considers bitcoin to be a progressive technology. Alza wants to come towards its potential and bring pragmatic benefits for its customers.

“It is an increasingly popular form of payment for goods and services. Customers have long been talking to us, but now with the rise in bitcoin’s value, interest has grown. That’s why we started thinking about its introduction,”explains J. Sadílek.

Bitcoin payments offer practical benefits for retailers and customers

He considers bitcoin payment speed as a major advantage for customers, that is comparable to the speed of other online payments along with its simplicity. Another reason for the popularity of cryptocurrency is the ability to pay online even if customer does not have a bank account or credit card. One of the benefits is also a lower price when buying goods and paying with bitcoin. This is especially true in times of growth of the bitcoin rate and depending on the time of its acquisition.
Bitcoin payment also brings many benefits to retailers. Above all, it is the impossibility of returning a payment for goods, as is the case with a payment card, which some fraudsters like to misuse. Another advantage is also the ability to immediately dispose of money after receiving them, or lower fees for transactions than for card payments.

Alza does not avoid other altcoins also and may consider accepting litecoin or ether in the future.

Is Bitcoin Volatility Dead For The Moment?

I don’t want to be a fortuneteller, but it seems the BTC/USD price is dead for trading at the moment. The low volatility is one of trader’s biggest enemies, because market sits sticking up to a level and not moving clearly in any direction. When you are a short-term trader that means shutting down the chart, maybe PC and doing something more useful where you don’t lose money.

It’s hard to tell for how long the market can stay in this terrible condition (Well, not for merchants. Here you go, you ‘…but BTC is too volatile’ moaners), but Bitcoin and its participants has clearly found a new equilibrium after the super ultra volatile period in recent weeks. That’s how every market works. A calm time follows a volatile period. The longer the pause moment lasts the steeper next move will be. But no one knows when that next phase will come.

btcchart

Looking at the historical price chart the market seems to be in a similar state as after the abrupt peak of 2011 when a downward correction lasted for a half a year followed by a year-long consolidation period before another leg up. I don’t say it should be the same this time. Not at all. As the recent rise wasn’t so steep as two years ago, I think there won’t be such a down-pressure and we may just see the price oscillating around 100 USD. And then one day starting to accelerate towards 1000 USD. When that day will come I dont know. But will watch out and be ready.