A gold dealer based in London city in the United Kingdom is now accepting bitcoin as a payment method for its precious metal products such as Gold and Silver bars and coins. This is a welcome development in the evolution of closer links between cryptocurrencies and precious metals.
Sharps Pixley announced that this provides greater choice to customers, both when making a purchase online. Sharps Pixley’s online webshop integration allows customers to pay using any Bitcoin wallet and complete their order in seconds, without leaving the site. They are accepting the cryptocurrency through a partnership with payments processor startup BitPay.
In their statements, they seem to be focused on the wealthier clients as representatives from the firm framed the move as a way to offer wealthier customers a way to invest in gold using their cryptocurrency holdings instead of fiat currencies.
Ross Norman, Sharps Pixley CEO said “it is our view that many investors in Bitcoin would like the option of holding intrinsic value in a traditional safe haven asset like gold ; and be able to switch across in a simple and cost effective way. That avenue is now open to them.”
“We are happy to be working with the Sharps Pixley team to make bitcoin payments available to their global clients,” said BitPay CEO Stephen Pair.
The Sharps Pixley was formed in the 18th century, owned at one stage by the German Deutsche Bank. Its current owner is Degussa Goldhandel.
I think this is a really exciting development which is we are bridging the gap between the worlds oldest currency and modern cryptocurrencies which are now coming of age. I think this will bring in a lot of new customers for the company. I'm sure existing customers will be happy to have a means to exchange and diversify digital currency for a real, tangible asset which they can store and trade.
I think I might be inclined to book a holiday in London!