First Major Payments Company To Support Bitcoin Payments.

In March 2014, Stripe, an online payments company, announced that it would soon allow its customers to accept Bitcoin payments. This feature was initially rolled out in a private beta program, with Tarsnap, an online backup service, being the first tester. Stripe’s CEO, Patrick Collison, stated that the decision to support Bitcoin payments was more about increasing the amount of commerce transacted online than betting on Bitcoin’s future importance.
 

Merchants who use Stripe to accept Bitcoin payments will be paid out in their chosen local currency. They set the price for their product or service in a local currency, and Stripe automatically calculates what that will cost in Bitcoin. Payments will arrive in their bank accounts in seven days or fewer. Neither Stripe nor its customers will hold onto the Bitcoin, meaning the businesses that accept Bitcoin will not be subject to the volatility of its price.