Overstock.com, the first major company in the world to adopt bitcoin as a means of payment, is taking themselves a step further in the cryptocurrency space.
First reported by bitcoin website CryptoCoinsNews this past weekend, the Utah-based company’s CEO, Patrick Byrne, announced that the mega retailer has plans to donate approximately three percent of their bitcoin sales revenues to cryptocurrency-related causes. Specifically, with the aim to spur adoption in the sector.
The announcement came during Byrne’s keynote address at the Bitcoin in the Beltway conference that took place in Washington, DC.
“The decision to donate a portion of Bitcoin sales revenue is a new one and we’re still working out the details,” a company spokesperson told NEWSBTC on Monday evening. “Whatever happens, an official announcement won’t be made until September.”
Already, Overstock.com is widely considered to be many steps ahead of other major companies that accept bitcoin (such as TigerDirect, Expedia, and soon-to-be DISH Network) for the reason that the company keeps ten percent of bitcoin sales revenues in just that: as bitcoin. Byrne has previously referred to converting 100 percent of bitcoin revenue into bitcoin as “cheating”, so it’s no surprise they’re taking this particular route.
The company hasn’t hinted how the plan is expected to work exactly, but says the cause goes far beyond bitcoin.
“One thing I can confidently tell you, however, is that any revenue from Bitcoin sales that Overstock.com donates will go to support the adoption of Cryptocurrencies in general, not necessarily Bitcoin in particular,” the spokesperson added.
A pioneer in bitcoin commerce
Overstock.com announced plans to accept bitcoin an an interview with NEWSBTC in December of last year. In that interview, Patrick Byrne told me the plan was to enable these digital currency payments in second half of this year.
The announcement caught significant press attention, forcing the company to work quicker to implement the payment solution before a competitor beat them to the punch.
Support for bitcoin payments were finally enabled in early January in partnership with Coinbase of San Francisco, and by early March, the company had announced over $1 million sales paid for in digital currency.
Stay tuned for more updates on this story.