Eye on Crypto: Jeweler Adds Crypto Acceptance; Many Consumers Want Investment Option

Marks Jewelers is the latest merchant to begin accepting digital currencies, including Bitcoin and Litecoin.

Announced Tuesday by e-commerce platform Shopping Cart Elite, which is supplying the enabling acceptance technology, the move means the Montgomeryville, Pa.-based jeweler also accepts Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Dash, Ethereum, and Zcoin for online and in-store payment.

The merchant appeal of cryptocurrency acceptance is that is these payments are near real-time, typically have lower transaction costs than credit cards, lack currency-conversion fees, and reduce chargebacks.

“This will allow us to make our fine jewelry available to the global market while paying lower fees and avoiding chargebacks,” said Joshua Rubin, Marks Jewelers director of marketing, in a press release. “Marks has long been known for our meticulous craftsmanship and curated selection, and we are thrilled to open our store to the world.” The cryptocurrencies will be accepted online and its Marks Jewelers’ store, Rubin tells Digital Transactions News.

While cryptocurrencies have garnered a lot of attention, few merchants currently accept them for payment. But crypto advocates and some merchant-acquiring executives suggest broader acceptance is looming.

In other digital-currency news, Bitcoin and its ilk apparently are proving popular with investors. In a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults commissioned by Hoboken, N.J.-based student-loan marketplace LendEdu, 52% of respondents said they would likely use their brokerage accounts to invest in cryptocurrency if the option existed. Some of these investors—59%—would scale back their traditional investments to put more money into cryptocurrency.

This sort of option could boost digital currencies. “Once cryptocurrency is offered as an investment option, other risky but traditional investments could take a small hit,” Perry Woodin, founder of software-services company Node40, said in a press release. “Investors who are not risk averse are always looking for the next big thing. New asset types don’t come along very often, but they always generate excitement.”