By Greg Bensinger
Consumers may soon be able to pay for their Airbnb rentals or
Uber car rides using bitcoin.
EBay Inc. has been quietly working to integrate acceptance of
the virtual currency into its Braintree payments subsidiary, part
of its PayPal unit, according to people familiar with the
matter.
Those people said PayPal officials have meet in recent weeks
with several companies that facilitate bitcoin transactions,
including Coinbase Inc. PayPal has yet to reach any agreements, the
people said. The timing of when Braintree would accept bitcoin is
dependent in part on such a deal.
Braintree provides software for payments processing to many
online and mobile companies like Uber and Airbnb.
EBay and PayPal wouldn't initially accept bitcoin, the people
familiar with the matter said. But that could change over time.
EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe told The Wall Street Journal last
year that he was considering ways to use bitcoin.
A deal would provide a boost to bitcoin, a virtual currency that
backers believe can someday displace cash or credit cards in many
transactions.
Overstock.com Inc. is among the biggest retailers that accept
bitcoin, through a deal with Coinbase struck earlier this year.
Overstock said this week that it expects sales of goods using
bitcoin to be $6 million to $8 million this year and to average $1
million a month by year-end.
Braintree was processing more than $12 billion in payments
annually when it was acquired by eBay in December for $800 million
in cash.
Bitcoin is created by computers solving complex math problems.
Once created, bitcoins can be traded on currency exchanges or used
as money to purchase goods and services from merchants that accept
it.
Because ownership and many transactions are recorded, backers
believe the virtual currency is less subject to fraud. Some bitcoin
users have adopted the currency because it isn't backed by any
country and can be traded with less scrutiny.
But bitcoin has been plagued by volatility and the collapse of a
major exchange. The currency was being sold on some exchanges for
more than $1,000 at one point last year and is trading at about
half that value today. The value of all bitcoin is $6.7 billion,
according to Coindesk's price index.
The virtual currency is also attracting regulatory scrutiny. The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said this month that it is
soliciting comments about virtual currencies, potentially prefacing
legal action against bitcoin marketplaces suspected of violating
consumer law.
Write to Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires