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 Bitcoin sales at Overstock <OSTK.O>, which started accepting this
type of currency as payment for items on its website in January this
year, have exceeded $2 million so far, or about one-quarter of 1
percent of total sales.
Byrne expects bitcoin sales of $6 million to $8 million in 2014,
most of it from new customers.
"I think the world expects us to make 75-80 cents per share this
year. And 4 cents of that would be attributable to bitcoin," Byrne
said to Reuters last Friday.
So far, total bitcoin sales have totaled $15,000 per day, or
$300,0000 per month. By the end of the year, Byrne expects Overstock
to do $1 million in bitcoin sales per month.
Overstock, which uses Coinbase as a payment processor, has been at
the forefront of the bitcoin revolution. It was the first company
with at least $1 billion in sales to accept bitcoin payments. The
company expects $1.5 billion in sales this year.
Soon after Overstock accepted bitcoins, other large U.S. companies
followed suit. Computer maker Dell Inc, Dish Network Corp <DISH.O>
and Newegg Inc <EGGZ.N>, an online retailer of computer hardware and
software, announced they would accept bitcoin payments as well.
More than 60,000 merchants worldwide accept bitcoin, according to
data from CoinDesk, a provider of bitcoin data.
"When technology comes along like crypto-currency, which can replace
at a far lower cost ... I am all for supporting it," Byrne said.
Bitcoin payment processors such as Coinbase charge Overstock less
than 1 percent, sometimes near zero, to process a transaction. A
credit card payment, on the other hand typically has a 3 percent
transaction fee, analysts said.
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Gil Luria, managing director and financial technology analyst at
Wedbush Securities, said a 2 percent to 3 percent savings in
transaction costs is a meaningful number especially for retailers
like Overstock, which has "razor-thin margins."
Overstock also plans to accept bitcoin payments from international
customers by mid-September this year. In addition, it will allocate
4 percent of bitcoin sales to promote the currency, effective
mid-September as well.
"We're in bitcoin for the long haul, I intend to make it permanent,"
said Byrne. "Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are going to be around
for as long as the law of mathematics works."
On Wednesday, Overstock was down 1.2 percent at $17.23, while
bitcoin fell 4 percent to $544.88.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chris Reese and
Steve Orlofsky)
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