During CES we got a chance to talk Bitcoin and e-commerce with Michael Handerhan, the founder and CEO of Bitcoinshop. As the name suggests, Bitcoinshop is an e-commerce site that specializes in just about everything one could need, and for your convenience they only take virtual currency Bitcoin. According to Handerhan, his site has taken off.
People like the anonymity of using Bitcoin and the privacy associated with buying it. While Bitcoin has been used over the past few years for clandestine purchases like those found on Silk Road, Bitcoinshop is offering mainstream products for mainstream folks that like the benefits to Bitcoin. Handerhan’s not alone, Overstock.com recently became the biggest mainstream e-commerce site to accept Bitcoin for payment and on the first day of sales with Bitcoin they reported did $126,000 in Bitcoin transactions. Not too shabby for a virtual currency that was only popular amongst the underworld a year ago.
The Bitcoinshop offers over 125,000 skus across 400 different product lines and they continue to grow their inventory and their userbase. That’s not too shabby for a site that’s only been online for three months. Handerhan says that most of his earliest customers continue to re-order and they’re getting a lot of large orders as well.
Handerhan is already partnering with some of the biggest e-commerce and retail brands in the world. Amazon is their biggest distributor and he also says that they’ve already inked a deal with Best Buy. The company is also in negotiations with QVC and Macy’s. They aren’t worried about Amazon either. Handerhan believes that when Jeff Bezos does pull the trigger on Bitcoin it will only further validate the currency to the masses.
Even with Bitcoin’s recent flurry of activity and the currency continually spiking at or above $1000 per Bitcoin, Handerhan believes the best is yet to come. He is hopeful that the US government will step up and endorse the virtual currency in someway that will serve as a huge signal for people everywhere that Bitcoin has arrived.
If you’ve got Bitcoin check out Bitcoinshop here at bitcoinshop.us
