CheapAir.com
an Online travel booking agency said on Friday that it will switch bitcoin
payment processors as a result of service change by Coinbase.
CheapAir.com which began accepting bitcoin back
in 2013 in a first for the global travel industry - explained the move in a blog post,
revealing it is eyeing a move to accept bitcoin payments through Bitpay.
"We were recently
informed by our processing partner, Coinbase, that they will no longer support
'custodial' solutions for merchants, and are removing a number of the tools and
features that we rely on to accept bitcoin from CheapAir.com shoppers,"
CheapAir wrote. "These changes are scheduled to occur in a matter of
weeks."
According to CheapAir, the process that converts the bitcoin it
receives from customers to fiat currencies is key to the platform's ability to
accept the cryptocurrency, since traditional airlines and hotel services only
take fiat currencies as payment.
The company also said that, as part of the shift, it's looking
at accepting other cryptocurrencies, naming bitcoin cash, dash and litecoin as
potential options. CheapAir announced in 2014 that
it was accepting litecoin and dogecoin by way of GoCoin, another cryptocurrency
payment processor.
However, while CheapAir said the integration with Bitpay has
already completed, it foresees the adoption may not be as smooth as previously.
"Our one giant concern is that Bitpay does not support
'non-payment protocol wallets' (wallets that aren't BIP-70 compliant). So if
you do not have a compatible wallet, you would have to get one and use it as an
intermediate stage for your Bitcoin payment," the company said in the
statement, going on to request that users send feedback on the Bitpay option:
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