Alcover Massage in the Village of the Arts becomes one of the first businesses in the area to begin accepting the popular cyberspace currency Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, a digital currency, are gaining popularity to the point where big and small businesses alike are beginning to accept them.
Laura Alcover, of Alcover Massage in the Village of the Arts, 917 12th Ave. W., is one of the first businesses in Bradenton to open up her “digital wallet” to accept bitcoins the same as other currency, according to coinmap.org, which alerts bitcoin users to area businesses that accept the digital currency.
According to Business Insider, the value of bitcoin has risen 900 percent in the past two years partly due to a growing acceptance and wider usage. More and more industries, businesses in particular, find the currency appealing because it eliminates banking and credit card fees. Major companies such as Overstock.com, DISH network, Mircrosoft, Intuit and PayPal offer bitcoin digital currency.
Unlike the dollar, which can be printed as needed, bitcoin wealth is finite with just 21 million “coins” being implemented. For $100, the bitcoin value is 0.01532 and is worth its proverbial weight in gold. It is essentially like purchasing services with stocks, as the market value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be volatile.
