The Overstock senior manager who originally helped the retailer take Bitcoin has spoken of his surprise at the continued lack of merchant uptake.
Overstock investment CEO Jonathan Johnson has said it is “crazy” more retailers are not already accepting Bitcoin.
Speaking to Business Insider Friday, Johnson, who is president of Overstock subsidiary Medici Ventures, also confirmed the Internet giant retains 50 percent of Bitcoin payments in the virtual currency.
“The disparity between virtually no merchant acceptance and Bitcoin’s rapid appreciation is striking,” he told the publication.
“…I don’t know why a CEO wouldn’t want to make it easier for folks to spend money.”
Overstock was one of the first global corporations to add Bitcoin as a form of payment several years ago, Johnson playing a major role in the initiative.
Since then, prices have soared, and consumer uptake has increased throughout the world’s markets.
Despite current upheaval and price volatility, the momentum behind making Bitcoin payment more attractive to the average consumer is still palpable, especially in markets like Japan.
“It’s actually cheaper for us to complete a Bitcoin transaction than it is to complete a credit card,” Johnson added despite recent prohibitively high Bitcoin transaction fees only returning to normal in the past two weeks.
Current downward selling pressure on Bitcoin and the upcoming hard fork possibility meanwhile may temporarily suppress appetite for spending, this nonetheless is broadly considered a temporary phenomenon.
