17 Companies That Accept Bitcoin

In this article, we’ve compiled a list of 17 companies that accept bitcoin, all of which are major, publicly traded companies. While bitcoin’s adoption among prominent companies is still relatively slow, it’s slowly but surely gaining wider acceptance. It’s estimated that as many as 260,000 stores in Japan will be accepting bitcoin by this summer, while over 10,000 ATMs in the EU now dispense bitcoins. Heck, you can even buy pot in Seattle using the currency, which was approved by the State of Washington.

The rise in bitcoin’s value is truly staggering. In just eight years, a $27 investment in the cryptocurrency was worth $886,000, as a Norwegian man recently discovered after buying 5,000 bitcoins in 2009 and promptly forgetting about them for several years. From being worth mere pennies in 2009, one bitcoin is now worth over $1,500, with the price having skyrocketed by over 50% in 2017 alone.

However, the currency’s extreme volatility has generally scared away serious investors, as have concerns that some governments could try to crack down on its usage. There have also been multiple cases of bitcoin theft that have raised doubts about just how safe it is to have a stash of bitcoins stored online. The most infamous case involved the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo, Japan, which was allegedly robbed of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins beginning in 2011, which today would be worth over $1 billion.

Fake bitcoin wallet apps that rob users of their bitcoins are also on the rise, which even Apple, with its stringent app approval process, has had difficulty in managing at times. It was reported last year that more than 10 such apps had made it through Apple’s vetting process before later being deleted, one of which possibly stole as much as $20,000 from victims.

However, aside from investing in bitcoins, there are other ways to make some money from them and other cryptocurrencies, as we examined in our article on the 6 Easiest Coins To Mine: Cryptocurrency Mining on A Normal Computer.

For our list, we have only considered companies that accept bitcoin in a direct manner (or have some form of bitcoin platform so that others can accept bitcoin), even if that manner is through a bitcoin middleman, which is the case with several companies on this list. However, we have not listed companies which require gift cards to be bought through third-party sites with bitcoins, as it can’t really be claimed that the company itself is accepting bitcoins. That ruled out companies like Home Depot and CVS from making this list.

Now then, head to the next page for the first of 17 companies that accept bitcoin.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

It was a huge boon for bitcoin when Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced that it would accept the cryptocurrency as a means to fund Microsoft Online accounts. From there, the funds can be used to purchase apps, Xbox games, or other digital goodies.

Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Travel booking site Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has been accepting bitcoins since 2014, though some people have questioned whether that’s still the case in recent months, as the option to do so has apparently disappeared at times. However, Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) does still list bitcoin as a payment option for hotel bookings in its customer support section.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)’s website accepts bitcoins as payment for just about everything, including physical products. A FAQ is available on the company’s website.

Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA)

Online gaming provider Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is also one of the 17 companies that accept bitcoin, allowing gamers to use bitcoins to pay for goodies in several of their games, including FarmVille 2.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)

There’s probably no easier way to drop a ton of bitcoins at once than to buy one of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s electric vehicles entirely with the digital currency, as multiple people have done.

Square Inc (NYSE:SQ)

Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) allows merchants to accept bitcoin payments and immediately converts it into USD for them. The platform can be used to pay for purchases with bitcoins at Whole Foods and several other major retailers.

Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) (vendors)

It’s easy for Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) vendors to accept bitcoin, and a growing list of them happily do in exchange for their unique, hand-crafted products.

Shopify Inc (US) (NYSE:SHOP)

E-commerce platform Shopify Inc (US) (NYSE:SHOP) allows its merchants to accept bitcoins for payment, with thousands of them now doing so.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Coffee lovers could previously pay for their drinks using bitcoin through Square. Now Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) has added a new bitcoin payment option through iPayYou.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) (NYSE:LGF)

Lions Gate began accepting bitcoin payments through GoCoin in 2015, allowing people to buy DVDs and other products from the company’s portfolio of successful entertainment properties like The Hunger Games.

Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK)

Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) was one of the first major companies to begin accepting bitcoins. CEO Patrick Byrne even gave a keynote address on the topic of bitcoins and their potentially invaluable role in society back in 2014.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), which is perhaps best known for its tax preparation software, also runs PayByCoin, which allows small businesses to invoice their customers in bitcoins.

DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH)

DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) has been allowing customers to pay their bills with bitcoin since mid-2014, and even has a full-blown tutorial on how to do so posted to their website.

Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), the next one on the list of companies that accept bitcoin recently partnered with CoinBase to allow people to convert their bitcoin into funds deposited into their PayPal wallet, and bitcoins can be bought using funds in a PayPal account through multiple other sources (though not directly through Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) itself).

eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)

Bitcoin mining contracts can be bid on through eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) merchants are otherwise unable to accept bitcoin as a form of payment however.

Time Inc (NYSE:TIME)

At the second spot on our list of companies that accept bitcoin we have Time Inc (NYSE:TIME) that began accepting bitcoin as payment for some of its print publications in 2014, through a partnership with Coinbase.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has not been a big fan of bitcoin in the past, banning all bitcoin wallet apps from iTunes at one point in 2014 before reinstating some of them. However, the company opened its arms somewhat wider to bitcoin last year, when its iOS 10 update added Circle (a bitcoin transfer service) functionality directly into iMessage. Apple does not yet accept bitcoin at its physical stores or on iTunes however.

That wraps up the list of 17 companies that accept bitcoin. Is it about time that more major companies hop on the bitcoin bandwagon? Or is the cryptocurrency doomed to relative obscurity forever? Share your take with our readers in the comments.

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