Braintree launched an open platform v.zero SDK permitting merchants to use advanced payment tools and the most suitable payment methods by means of an integration.
The integration with CoinBase was announced in September and was followed by PayPal’s limitations regarding its merchants. On January 22, the company wrote in their blog: “Today, our initial integration with Coinbase is complete and we are opening up private beta access to allow merchants in the US to accept bitcoin via v.Zero.”
It could be a great piece of news for bitcoin adoption because of the fact that several famous consumer firms’ online and mobile payments are powered by Braintree. Popular merchants like AirBnB, Uber, and thousands of others have the option to enable bitcoin payments.
About 38,000 merchants including Dell, Overstock.com and Expedia are already working with Coinbase. The service permits merchants to support credit and debit card payments, Venmo, PayPal, and Apple Pay.
Moreover, according to Braintree’s announcement made on Thursday, thanks to such an integration, U.S. merchants are able to join a private beta to accept Bitcoin, too. To use the private beta, merchants have to insert a few lines of code to the platform v.zero SDK.
“With just a few lines of code and a click of a button, merchants using v.zero will be able to add new payment methods and features we support in minutes,” is said in a recent Braintree’s blog post.
Still, according to a Braintree’s spokesperson, “in terms of merchants, we’ve heard from many who are interested in accepting bitcoin but we aren’t announcing any specific merchants.”
At the time of the integration announcement, Bill Ready, Chief Executive of Braintree, told Pando:
“Braintree is an open platform. We care less about building it ourselves, than we do just about giving people access to the best payment experiences. For example, we don’t really care if merchants accept Visa or Mastercard or AMEX. We’re happy to enable them all. We think of bitcoin like another payment network and the best way for us to offer our merchants access was to work with a partner like Coinbase. Thanks to the V.Zero SDK, merchants and their developers only need to do one integration, which involves just a few lines of code, and they can opt to accept bitcoin.”
Nevertheless, the price of a single Bitcoin decreased and the news about BitStamp hack and Silk Road trial obviously didn’t make merchants happy, but still, users continue spending and investing the crypto currency. Aunkur Arya, general manager of mobile at Braintree, says that “Bitcoin is growing in popularity for consumer and merchants alike.”
But still, there’s an answered question related to bitcoin’s fame of being unstable. Is bitcoin going to be considered a usable and viable currency? There’s no clear answer but if Braintree as well as other important financial institutions accept bitcoin as a payment option, its value as means of exchange greatly enhances.
Eugenia graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University with a degree in Intercultural Communication, Translation/Interpretation (Italian, English). Currently she works as a business analyst, freelance interpreter and tutor. She’s fond of numismatics, photos, good books and sports, adores travelling and cooking.