比特币热何时蔓延到消费者？
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芬利认为：“大多数购物者用比特币消费的原因是他们想把比特币花出去，他们通过搜索找到了我们。现在我们接触到的这批消费者以前也许永远也不会成为我们的顾客。”尽管同一社区的其他商家没有加入接受比特币的行列，但芬利觉得比特币的未来充满希望。他说：“这种技术绝对不会消失。” 比特币热并不仅限于小型零售商。一些大型零售企业也开始为了接受比特币而进行投资。它们的理由是支付技术必将出现变化，而它们希望走在最前面。 在线电子零售商新蛋（Newegg）从7月份开始接受比特币。该公司称，这么做是因为自己的客户群体中有很多技术人员。新蛋首席营销官索伦•米尔斯表示：“我们是技术先锋，我们的客户群体也是如此，我们希望给他们带来一些支付技术上的创新。” 尽管没有透露比特币交易数量，新蛋称，这个数字较小，不过正在增长。这部分顾客购买的往往是能用来解开数学算式赚取比特币的商品，比如显卡，主板和硬盘。米尔斯说：“比特币给我们带来了一些新顾客。这个群体真的很重要。” 另一家在线零售商Overstock.com从今年1月份开始接受比特币。在随后的七个星期里，该公司完成了逾100万美元的比特币交易。首席执行官帕特里克•伯恩预计，今年全年将出现2.5万次比特币消费，总交易额将达到600万美元。不过，这只占Overstock.com全年收入的0.25%。 伯恩说：“我意识到（市场）对比特币存在迫切需求，我也希望能从这个市场中分一杯羹。我这个人支持限制政府。我不喜欢任何形式的垄断，包括政府对货币的垄断。” 他认为比特币带来的机会远不止零售交易。上个月伯恩公布了一项计划，内容是用比特币技术建立分散的证券交易所。这项使比特币在人与人之间进行划转的技术从理论上来说，将使得人们可以在避开政府监管的情况下完成股票买卖。 伯恩对比特币的热情直接触及到了比特币热的核心。热衷者并不是为比特币本身感到兴奋。他们也知道比特币不好用，而且也不便于操作。而让他们兴奋的是比特币所展现出的可能性。斯蒂芬妮加入BitPay的原因是她认为，对希望向海外汇款时不缴纳任何手续费的人来说，比特币是个完美的解决方案。Hemp & Company的比尔•芬利则相信比特币就像电子邮件，最初的表现很粗糙，但它会存在下去。 而对于新罕布什尔州的便利店主波钦斯来说，他并非真正的比特币爱好者，在他看来比特币是一种玩具。但比特币改变了人们对货币的理解，这种吸引力让他无法抗拒。他说：“比特币交易也许几个月都不会出现一次，但它正在挑战现状。”（财富中文网） 译者：Charlie 审稿：Vera Han |
“Most of these sales are because customers want to spend their bitcoin and searched us out,” Finley said. “We’re reaching a demographic we probably never would have.” Finley remains hopeful about the future of bitcoin, despite the fact that merchants in his community aren’t joining in. “It’s a technology that isn’t going to go away,” he said. The hype isn’t limited to small retailers. Some larger retailers have made the investment to start accepting bitcoin too. They reason that payment technologies will change and they want to be at the forefront. Online electronics retailer Newegg, which started accepting bitcoin in July, said it did so because its client base is full of techies. “We are tech forward, our customer base is that way, we want to bring them that kind of innovation in payment technology as well,” said Soren Mills, the company’s chief marketing officer. Newegg wouldn’t disclose number of transactions, but said the numbers are small but growing. Purchases tend to be for products that support solving the math problems that earn bitcoins: graphic cards, motherboards, hard drives. “We’ve doubled our run-rate over the last three months,” Mills said. “Bitcoin has brought us some new customers. It’s got a group of people that it’s really important to.” Overstock.com, another online retailer, started accepting bitcoin in January 2014. Within the first seven weeks, it had over $1 million in transactions with the currency. CEO Patrick Byrne expects to close the year with 25,000 transactions totaling $6 million – but that’s only .25% of the company’s annual revenue. “I realized there was a hunger for bitcoin, I wanted to get a slice of that market,” said Byrne. “I’m a limited government guy. I don’t like monopolies of any kind including the monopoly government has over money.” Byrne’s sees bitcoin as opening the doors far beyond retail transactions. Last month, he disclosed plans to use bitcoin’s technology to create a decentralized stock exchange. The technology that is responsible for transferring bitcoin from one person to another will let people transfer company shares to each other, bypassing government regulators – at least in theory. Byrne’s enthusiasm drives straight to the heart of the bitcoin frenzy. Enthusiasts aren’t excited about bitcoin for it’s own sake. They agree it’s clunky and not particularly user-friendly. Rather they are excited by the possibilities it presents. Stephanie Wargo joined BitPay because she saw bitcoin as the perfect solution for people who want to send remittance abroad without any fees. Billy Finley from Hemp & Company believes bitcoin is akin to email: the first iterations were rough, but now it’s here to stay. As for Bochynski, the convenience store owner in New Hampshire? He’s not a exactly a fan of bitcoin. He thinks it’s a toy. But he can’t resist the lure of how bitcoin changes our understanding of currency. “It might not be around in a few months, but it challenges the status quo,” he said. |
