The announcement from the European fintech giant comes as a surprise to many as Adyen once allowed its clients to accept bitcoin as a payment option but has now revealed they longer support the cryptocurrency.
European fintech giant Adyen has revealed that it has zero interest in adding Bitcoin as a payment method after its clients asked for it. The fintech firm which processes payments for multi-million companies including Facebook, Netflix and Uber, stated that it isn’t convinced that Bitcoin can be used as a mainstream form of payment.
Bitcoin’s new wave of institutional influx and its recent boom has led to many companies and corporations adding digital currency as an option for payment. Adyen however isn’t going to follow suit as its CEO and co-founder, Pieter van der Does, rebuffed the request from the firm’s clients.
Speaking after the announcement, Peter van der Does told reporters that the highly volatile nature of Bitcoin and other digital currencies in the crypto market makes them “less attractive “ for making transactions. Van der Does added that Adyen has no interest in adding cryptocurrency and not just Bitcoin as a payment method.
“Bitcoin is more of an investment asset than a payment method. We are interested in payment methods which are being used. I am wondering if the huge movement in the value of bitcoin is helping it as a payment method,” Van der Does stated.
Asked whether Adyen could follow other institutions in accepting Bitcoin as a payment method, Van der Does stated that his firm’s merchants are not requesting that it adds crypto payment functionality to its platform and will not bend to the new wave across the financial scene.
He explained that using cryptocurrencies as a payment method might not actually be helping the digital currencies as they are more like investment assets than a currency. “That makes it less interesting for a merchant, to have potential (as a means of payment), you need a stable currency,” Van der Does added. Elon Musk’s Tesla, MasterCard and PayPal have all revealed plans to accept payment for products and services in Bitcoin.
The announcement from the European fintech giant comes as a surprise to many as Adyen once allowed its clients to accept bitcoin as a payment option but has now revealed they longer support the cryptocurrency. Pieter van der Does speaking in 2015 stated that the decision was to try and disrupt the online payments space as Bitcoin provided unique opportunities.
Adyen, the Dutch online payments firm, announced on February 10 that its full-year 2020 earnings ($488.2 million) went up by 27% from 12 months ago, beating the expected figure of around $486 million by analysts. The firm’s shares rose over 10% in the early stages of February 10 to touch a record high after it showed its annual profits.
Adyen also benefited from the pandemic last year as its net revenues of $829.9 million also went up 28% as compared to the previous year.
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