Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) announces an integration with ShapeShift, the world’s leading instant digital asset exchange, that will allow customers to use dozens of top cryptocurrencies for payment on the website. Customers shopping online at Overstock can now use digital currencies supported by ShapeShift, like Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, and more to purchase any product from the home goods leader’s selection of nearly 4 million products, including, furniture, accessories, bedding, décor, rugs, DIY, and more.
ShapeShift allows digital currencies to be easily converted between different coin types in a matter of seconds, all without any account setup or personal data required. Instead, the funds are sent to a specific address, with the blockchain record of the transaction acting as both the order and the receipt.
During checkout, customers will select their preferred cryptocurrency before being prompted to transfer the coins just as they would with any other digital wallet transaction. Overstock will then utilize ShapeShift to convert the cryptocurrencies to bitcoin. Refunds from a cryptocurrency purchase will also be made in bitcoin, however customers can easily exchange those to their preferred cryptocurrency through ShapeShift.
This year has seen the emergence of several popular non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies, helping the number of transactable digital currencies grow to over 1000, according to Coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin is still the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, however it now represents just under 50% of the market, down from nearly 80% a year ago. ShapeShift supports dozens of these additional growing digital assets. Additionally, in light of the recent Bitcoin Hard Fork, ShapeShift has added support of the forked asset, Bitcoin Cash, allowing Overstock customers to complete their purchases via BCH.
Overstock is the first major retailer to accept multiple cryptocurrencies as payment. This announcement is the latest in a line of major firsts for Overstock in the blockchain world; the e-commerce pioneer became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin in early 2014 and issued the world’s first blockchain stock with its Series A Preferred offering in late 2016 on the t0 platform.