Yelp today announced an update that Bitcoin fans will absolutely love. The company has added a new “Accepts Bitcoin” attribute to business listings.
Business owners can let their customers know they accept the digital currency by logging into their business owner tools and updating their payment attributes. Bitcoin joins a long list of options offered by Yelp business listings that aren’t just limited to payment: whether the business is currently open, offers delivery, pet-friendly, what their phone number is, and so on.
Here’s Yelp explaining why it is making this addition:
Why does this matter? For those who haven’t heard the buzz about Bitcoin, it’s a new payment technology that allows consumers and businesses to make fast, secure and low-cost digital payments from any Internet-enabled device. Bitcoin also allows for consumers and businesses to transact without having to store sensitive data like a credit card number. Finally, like cash, Bitcoin’s transactions are one-way, so businesses don’t have to worry about chargebacks. We’re hopeful the introduction of the Bitcoin attribute will provide yet another way for consumers to connect with great local businesses.
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One could argue that this move is bigger than previous announcements, such as Square Market adding support for Bitcoin or Microsoft adding Bitcoin currency conversion to Bing. Yelp’s move encourages businesses to not only add Bitcoin support themselves, but to promote it as a differentiator from the competition.
Furthermore, it’s bringing the digital currency even more into the mainstream as Yelp has over 100 million unique visitors. Whether Yelp users will actually choose businesses because they accept Bitcoin will of course remain to be seen.
See also – Yelp confirms Harvard study about fraudulent reviews, says its algorithm discards 25% of user submissions and Yelp now matches photos and reviews by the same user on desktop and mobile
Top Image Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
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