If you’re going to shop at TigerDirect, Bitcoin is now a payment option during the checkout process. The online electronics giant currently sells over 200,000 different products over the Internet, and they are the first large electronics retailer to accept Bitcoin payments from their customers. This move makes a lot of sense for a company that focuses on selling electronics over the Internet, and some will be surprised that it did not come sooner. This could force Newegg, another major electronics retailer, to make a similar move.
Why Accept Bitcoin?
In a press release from earlier today, Steven Leeds, the Director of Corporate Marketing at TigerDirect, said, “it’s a logical fit” because individuals are already puchasing hardware on their website for the purpose of cryptocurrency mining. It took the company a few months to figure out how they were going to implement Bitcoin as a payment option, and they eventually decided to partner with Bitpay to get the job done. For TigerDirect, this move is all about staying one step ahead of the competition.
What Does This Mean for the Bitcoin Price?
As mentioned earlier today, it will be interesting to see how increased merchant adoption will affect the price of bitcoins. The price has already rebounded back to where it was this morning after the TigerDirect news broke, but we’ll have to wait and see what this means for Bitcoin over the long term. There is no word on whether or not TigerDirect will be keeping a percentage of the bitcoins that they earn from sales through the Bitcoin payment network, but it is likely they are immediately switching over to dollars through their Bitpay partnership. If many Bitcoiners end up using TigerDirect to purchase their electronics, we could be looking at a move that at least suppresses the price of bitcoins from traveling “to the moon” at an unhealthy pace. Either way, may Bitcoiners will be excited about the news. We’ll have to wait and see how competitors to TigerDirect and Overstock decide to react.
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