Dish Network announced this past Thursday that it will become the largest company to date to begin accepting bitcoin for payments. The satellite television company confirmed that it will begin to permit its customers to pay for their satellite services in digital currency by September and the payments would be processed by Coinbase.
In order to avoid the risk of intense price fluctuations that the virtual currency offers at times, Coinbase will immediately convert bitcoins into cash, the news release noted.
There are three reasons as to why Dish started offering this service: it was suggested by numerous company employees who are staunch proponents of bitcoin, it is trying to tap into its market of high-tech customers and Coinbase offers a lower payment processing fee compared to other processors.
“We always want to deliver choice and convenience for our customers and that includes the method they use to pay their bills,” said Bernie Han, DISH executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “Bitcoin is becoming a preferred way for some people to transact and we want to accommodate those individuals.”
Dish customers will choose to make one-time payments in bitcoin on mydish.com – they will still have the option of paying their bills online with credit cards, debit cards or their bank account.
Coinbase will add the satellite provider to its growing list of merchants and partners, which consists of some of the biggest names in the United States today, including the Sacramento Kings, Overstock.com, Zynga, Microsoft’s Bing and the Chicago Sun-Times.
The peer-to-peer decentralized virtual currency has been having a wave of good news as of late, despite the major setbacks that have unfolded this year. One of the positive news stories is its surge in price lately: over the past week, bitcoin has climbed from as low as $440 to as high as $680.
