Stephen Jewelry, a high-end store selling rare jewelry and expensive watches just showed how cryptocurrencies could soon be a game changer in the retail business. Located at the heart of Silicon Valley, the store has become the first jewelry enterprise to accept cryptocurrencies as a means of settling transactions, even for its most prized products.
Soaring Cryptocurrency Sales
While most businesses have shunned digital currencies on concerns that very few people would use them, it appears Stephen Silver is reaping big rewards for the integration. Purchases made via cryptocurrencies now account for 20% of the store’s total sales and totaled over eight figures over the past eight months.
Stephen Silver joins a growing list of businesses and merchants that have embraced cryptocurrencies, dubbed as the currency of the future. According to the store’s President Jared Silver, being at the heart of innovation dictates that the store must also evolve with the changing times as cryptocurrencies continue to become more popular as a form of payment.
“Being that we’re here in Silicon Valley really in the cradle of innovation it provides us an opportunity to see how these technologies mature and what we’ve found was that we have a lot of customers who are reputable investors, entrepreneurs and they wanted to pay in cryptocurrencies,” says Mr. Silver, president of Stephen Silver.
Digital Currencies Synergies
Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular as a means of payment in part because of the low transaction fees they afford customers. Unlike credit cards, virtual currencies transactions come at about a third of the cost that people would typically pay. Fast closing times compared to wire transfer and credit cards is another attribute that has helped accelerate their usage.
However, digital currencies are yet to take over as a primary means of settling transactions in part because of the high levels of volatility associated with most of them. The fact that prices of the likes of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD) are continually fluctuating is seen as one of the reasons why most businesses have shied away from adding their support.