Published on September 4, 2014 at 15:01 BST
PayStand has released an e-commerce plugin for WooCommerce that will give WordPress merchants a new way to accept bitcoin.
With the news, PayStand joins BitPay to become the latest bitcoin payments processor to integrate its services with WooCommerce. The free e-commerce toolkit is a popular method for WordPress websites to accept payments.
Speaking to CoinDesk, PayStand CEO Jeremy Almond suggested that his company’s solution could offer a more attractive option to WordPress merchants who are testing the waters with the cryptocurrency.
In addition to bitcoin, PayStand allows merchants to accept credit cards and e-checks, features that Almond said will enable his company’s plugin to find a unique audience.
Almond told CoinDesk:
“Cards aren’t going away tomorrow. [...] We can go to a WordPress merchant and say, ‘Here’s an offering where you can still take cards and electronic checks, but you can offer something that is free for transactions.’ [Bitcoin is] global and it solves a lot of problems around payments.”PayStand’s news is the latest in a series of developments involving the wider WordPress community and bitcoin.
In November 2012, WordPress itself announced that it would allow customers to buy upgrades using BitPay. The development is often cited as a milestone for bitcoin’s merchant processing community, as the platform was one of the first major brands to endorse digital currency.
Meeting developer needs
Almond stressed that his company’s WooCommerce plugin tool aims to appeal to both novice business owners and more established developers looking to integrate a bitcoin payments offering into their website.Framing his new offering as flexible to the needs of both demographics, he said:
“Our process is very simple, one click of a button you can install the product, so it’s not very complicated, you don’t need developers to do it, you can have credit card processing right next to it. You can turn it on and turn it off, it’s very easy to use.”Established developers, in turn, will be able to use PayStand’s API to build out more extensive and unique solutions, Almond added.
Bitcoin key to business model
The CEO went on to brand the offering as a natural fit for his company given that WooCommerce is one of the most used shopping cart toolkits, and that WordPress powers one in five e-commerce websites.He told CoinDesk:
“Our business ultimately wants to see bitcoin thrive, so going places like WordPress and other mainstream areas where we can continue to get your everyday merchant aware and able to take payments and that’s a key goal for us.”While PayStand offers multiple payment options, Almond stressed that the company simply wants to serve as a bridge to emerging payment types.
Though he declined to offer specific figures, Almond said he has been pleased so far with the number of PayStand merchants that have enabled the company’s bitcoin payment option since his service launched in April.
He concluded:
“Our goal is to build a bridge from traditional to next-generation payments, and I think our strategy is working for our merchants.”Images via WordPress and Shutterstock
