Overstock Continues Bitcoin Support

Utah-based international shopping website Overstock is no stranger to the world of cryptocurrency. In May of 2014 they partnered with Coinbase and began offering Bitcoin as a payment option, making them the first major retailer to welcome the young digital currency. Now just less than a year later they have announced another large change which will provide more incentive to customers to use Bitcoin.

“There will soon be Bitcoin-only sales and discounts for purchases made with Bitcoin”
— – Judd Bagley, Overstock Cryptocurrency Group General Manager

Plans such as this could help facilitate greater adoption of Bitcoin within the general public. If the discounts are great enough people may be inclined to shake their skepticism of the new, and often unfamiliar, digital currency.

Bagley was in the Overstock PR department when the company began accepting Bitcoin, and being the first major retailer to do so there was a huge media response that ensued. “The more I learned the more fascinated I became. It was that interest that led to my being included in all of Overstock.com’s cryptocurrency efforts,” he recalls.

“It’s a classic chicken/egg conundrum when it comes to consumer adoption,” Bagley said regarding the decision to add incentives for customers to use Bitcoin. “We’re preparing to do our part to short circuit the cycle by adding additional motivations for customers to use Bitcoin.”

This news comes days after the company announced funding to the tune of $5 million for Peernova. The cryptography systems and blockchain research company plan to use its funds, now totalling $19 million, to develop their enterprise-scale products for data security and financial applications. “Their team is brilliant and agile, and the products they have in the works are going to change the way business is done forever,” Bagley went on to say. “They get the transformative nature of the blockchain.”

"PeerNova is precisely the kind of company we’re eager to back up.”
— – Bagley

CEO of Overstock Patrick M. Byrne also had great things to say about the company, following the recent investment. “With our knowledge of PeerNova’s projects and Overstock’s suspicion of society’s reliance on centralized systems, we believe that this collaboration forms a win-win,” he stated. “I believe such crypto technologies will solve many social problems that flow from our society’s reliance on centralized systems. PeerNova’s team and depth of knowledge in this space impressed the Overstock team.”

Overstock is doing incredible things in terms of setting trends for other companies to follow when it comes to adopting cryptocurrency. Their continued investment in Bitcoin and the development of blockchain technology shows just how firm its stance is on the subject. Such a major investment is great news for the development of blockchain-based technology, which will also bring more positive attention towards Bitcoin.

With an overall rise in decentralization that has been happening worldwide, innovators such as Overstock and PeerNova are needed now more than ever to make sure the transition away from centralization is well-managed and done in the best way possible. If their work for Overstock is successful, we could easily see other major companies applying a similar system. It is this type of forward thinking that could very well keep both Overstock and PeerNova ahead of the curve in the world of big business.