EBay Payments Unit in Talks to Accept Bitcoin

[hhanh00]

Was this reported already?

In the Wall St Journal

[remotemass]

They have been considering bitcoin for some time now, indeed.
I will copy and paste the article here:

EBay Payment Subsidiary Braintree in Talks to Accept Bitcoin
Dow Jones
RECOMMEND   COMMENT
Consumers may soon be able to pay for their Airbnb rentals or Uber car rides using bitcoin.

EBay Inc. has been quietly working to integrate acceptance of the virtual currency into its Braintree payments subsidiary, part of its PayPal unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Those people said PayPal officials have meet in recent weeks with several companies that facilitate bitcoin transactions, including Coinbase Inc. PayPal has yet to reach any agreements, the people said. The timing of when Braintree would accept bitcoin is dependent in part on such a deal.

Braintree provides software for payments processing to many online and mobile companies like Uber and Airbnb.

EBay and PayPal wouldn't initially accept bitcoin, the people familiar with the matter said. But that could change over time. EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe told The Wall Street Journal last year that he was considering ways to use bitcoin.

A deal would provide a boost to bitcoin, a virtual currency that backers believe can someday displace cash or credit cards in many transactions.

Overstock.com Inc. is among the biggest retailers that accept bitcoin, through a deal with Coinbase struck earlier this year. Overstock said this week that it expects sales of goods using bitcoin to be $6 million to $8 million this year and to average $1 million a month by year-end.

Braintree was processing more than $12 billion in payments annually when it was acquired by eBay in December for $800 million in cash.

Bitcoin is created by computers solving complex math problems. Once created, bitcoins can be traded on currency exchanges or used as money to purchase goods and services from merchants that accept it.

Because ownership and many transactions are recorded, backers believe the virtual currency is less subject to fraud. Some bitcoin users have adopted the currency because it isn't backed by any country and can be traded with less scrutiny.

But bitcoin has been plagued by volatility and the collapse of a major exchange. The currency was being sold on some exchanges for more than $1,000 at one point last year and is trading at about half that value today. The value of all bitcoin is $6.7 billion, according to Coindesk's price index.

The virtual currency is also attracting regulatory scrutiny. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said this month that it is soliciting comments about virtual currencies, potentially prefacing legal action against bitcoin marketplaces suspected of violating consumer law.

Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 14, 2014 18:15 ET (22:15 GMT)

[jaberwock]

Any trusted link to see if it is real?

I've already seem some fake news floating around this forum.

And if it is true, it more or less confirms that the last drop is a blatant manipulation, because this has potential to cause a good short term bubble

[btcracer1]

If it's real it's a great news, personally I will be very happy to pay Airbnb with bitcoins for my holidays!

[micky123]

I did see a news interview some time ago where the CEO of eBay (or Paypal) did not categorically rule out Bitcoin transactions. I guess they will find it hard to come to terms with a currency that offers them little or nothing in terms of fees. Maybe this is the whole reason why they are still not accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. I have seen them ban people for transacting in Bitcoin and they told me off when i suggested that they should allow sale of virtual currencies on eBay India. They refused and told me that if i don't follow their rules about digital currencies, they could ban my account!

[keithers]

This would be a huge step forward obviously

[zhinkk]

Thanks for posting past the paywall. Sounds like good news to me. Excited for the future.

[TheNewAnon135246]

That's very good news. I bet there will be a lot of 'to the moon' messages being posted if they start accepting .

[kerafym]

Good news.

Could cause price to spike up.

[Omikifuse]

Coincidence we get cheap coins just before the news?

I don't think so.

At least we have some light to the end of the downwards in price.

[zhinkk]

Good news.

Could cause price to spike up.

Wouldn't count on it. Newegg and dell accepting bitcoin did not raise it at all.

[Skoupi]

So what exactly is braintree? Never heard of it before.
From a quick look it looks like yet another payment process. Why paypal has a subsidiary like this in the first place?

[minerpumpkin]

Was this reported already?

In the Wall St Journal

I only remember some "big" guy at eBay recognized Bitcoin, admitted he owns a couple and said that PayPal may at some point need to incorporate it. That was already quite a big thing to say at that time. I guess they do need some time in order to get things right and working in such a big and widely known company!

[dquancey]

Was this reported already?

In the Wall St Journal

I only remember some "big" guy at eBay recognized Bitcoin, admitted he owns a couple and said that PayPal may at some point need to incorporate it. That was already quite a big thing to say at that time. I guess they do need some time in order to get things right and working in such a big and widely known company!

Wasn't it Paypals CEO that was looking at integrating BTC into PayPal and eBay and mentioned it'd be done by the end of the year?

[Yeezus]

All talk but it's still just talk. I'm sure many companies are 'talking' about the possibility of accepting bitcoin, but until they publicly state something that indicates they're seriously considering it or looking at how to implement it asap then I'd not get too excited.

[scryptasicminer]

This could set off a new wave of merchants demanding bitcoin payment on ebay.

[Daniel91]

I did see a news interview some time ago where the CEO of eBay (or Paypal) did not categorically rule out Bitcoin transactions. I guess they will find it hard to come to terms with a currency that offers them little or nothing in terms of fees. Maybe this is the whole reason why they are still not accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. I have seen them ban people for transacting in Bitcoin and they told me off when i suggested that they should allow sale of virtual currencies on eBay India. They refused and told me that if i don't follow their rules about digital currencies, they could ban my account!

If eBay and Paypal accept Bitcoin this will be really huge news and very good promotion for Bitcoin.
It will help Bitcoin to become mainstream very quickly.
But, I'm afraid that you are right, they have very good reasons why don't want to accept Bitcoin at the moment.
It's always about money

[Finchy]

It's a subsidiary of the same company. It'lll be quite a while before ebay or PP get involved, though I;'m glad they've got their foot in the door so to speak.

[gelar24]

yes hopefully with legitimate ebay accept payment with bitcoin,
the more bitcoin may rise in price and increasingly successful with bitcoinnya

[littlewizard]

Great news, now it is the turn of Amazon, apple, etc.