Online travel booking agency CheapAir.com said Friday that it will switch bitcoin payment processors following a service change by Coinbase.
CheapAir.com â which began accepting bitcoin back in 2013 in a first for the global travel industry â explained the move in a blog post, revealing it is eyeing a move to accept bitcoin payments through Bitpay.
âWe were recently informed by our processing partner, Coinbase, that they will no longer support âcustodialâ solutions for merchants, and are removing a number of the tools and features that we rely on to accept bitcoin from CheapAir.com shoppers,â CheapAir wrote. âThese changes are scheduled to occur in a matter of weeks.â
According to CheapAir, the process that converts the bitcoin it receives from customers to fiat currencies is key to the platformâs ability to accept the cryptocurrency, since traditional airlines and hotel services only take fiat currencies as payment.
The company also said that, as part of the shift, itâs looking at accepting other cryptocurrencies, naming bitcoin cash, dash and litecoin as potential options. CheapAir announced in 2014 that it was accepting litecoin and dogecoin by way of GoCoin, another cryptocurrency payment processor.
However, while CheapAir said the integration with Bitpay has already completed, it foresees the adoption may not be as smooth as previously.
âOur one giant concern is that Bitpay does not support ânon-payment protocol walletsâ (wallets that arenât BIP-70 compliant). So if you do not have a compatible wallet, you would have to get one and use it as an intermediate stage for your Bitcoin payment,â the company said in the statement, going on to request that users send feedback on the Bitpay option:
âThis is where weâd love your input.â
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