Bitcoin isn't for payments?
While that may be the popular narrative of late, don't tell that to Bellatorra Skin Care, a luxury brand that has found the opposite as it's expanded internationally into markets such as China and India.
Not only is bitcoin (which has seen years of declining interest from merchants as the network bumped up against its limits) a sought-after choice for business-to-business (B2B) payments, but for retail payments, other cryptocurrencies are finding a foothold as well.
"We expanded our business internationally this past year, and have had strong demand [for cryptocurrency] from customers in markets such as China and India, where fiat cross-border transactions have inefficiencies," said Nathan Halsey, the CEO of Bellatorra, based in Beverly Hills, California.
Halsey told CoinDesk:
"We have found cryptocurrency to be a viable solution for resolving these challenges, and we see other companies with international business adopting the same practices."
Indeed, one of the early use cases highlighting bitcoin's innovation was cross-border payments where there were bottlenecks and high fees for transacting.
Bellatorra ran into these hurdles in Asian markets and says its wholesale customers began asking for the option of paying in bitcoin. So in July 2017, the company began a relationship with bitcoin merchant services provider BitPay.
"We have completed multiple six-figure transactions, without an issue, and have settled funds from the time of customer payment to settling in U.S. dollars in our U.S. bank accounts in less than one business day," Halsey continued.
And according to BitPay CEO Stephen Pair, Bellatorra's experience in circumventing cumbersome traditional payments rails with crypto isn't uncommon. Cosmetic companies such as Nuciya Beauty in Canada have found that people tend to spend more per purchase when they use cryptocurrency.
As such, Bellatorra is looking into adopting other cryptocurrencies, and making them a bigger segment of their business, in the future.
"We are definitely pro-cryptocurrency as a payment option," Halsey said, adding that the company has started holding onto small amounts of the cryptocurrencies it accepts instead of immediately cashing out.
Full article:
https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-payments-are-booming-in-asia/
