Online Retailer Overstock Starts Accepting Bitcoin

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By Stan Schroeder2014-01-10 09:58:45 UTC

Chalk up another win for cryptocurrencies: Online retailer Overstock has started accepting bitcoins as a form of payment.

As announced by Overstock CEO last month, the company has partnered with Bitcoin platform Coinbase to enable bitcoin payments on Overstock.com.

See also: Lily Allen Sorry for Turning Down a Gig Worth a Fortune in Bitcoins

For bitcoin-owning shoppers, the process is simple. Place stuff into your shopping basket, and simply choose "Pay with Bitcoin" at the checkout page. The order will be completed using your Coinbase account or Bitcoin address.

There are several limitations, however: Bitcoin payments are available only for shoppers from the U.S., and orders paid with bitcoins cannot be combined with other forms of payment.

Nevertheless, the fact that a major U.S. retailer embraced Bitcoin is good news for the currency, which has recently suffered a string of setbacks as China's central bank prohibited financial institutions in the country from processing bitcoin transactions.

Editor's note: The author of this text owns a minor amount of bitcoins.

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Image: George Frey/Stringer/Getty Images

Topics: Bitcoin, overstock, U.S., US & World