Southern California-based
Certified Hosting is now accepting Bitcoin as payment for web hosting services. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency launched in 2009 which is not managed by a central bank or other financial institutions. As a result, it is not subject to the substantial transfer fees attached to more traditional methods of money transfer.
With a monetary base valued at $600 million, Bitcoin is becoming increasingly popular with a number of companies. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss - the famous twins that wrestled Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook ownership - suggested recently they owned own nearly $11 million worth of the currency.
Certified Hosting is one of a limited number of web hosts supporting Bitcoin payments and the company's move will give its customers more payment options. Bitcoin does not link accounts to individuals as traditional banking approaches do, and transfers are only made to a Bitcoin address which is identified by a string of characters. This avoids the issue of individuals having to reveal sensitive data to be able to make online purchases. Certified Hosting believes this means its customers will enjoy greater privacy and better security.
"Accepting Bitcoin payments is very exciting for us," explained Certified Hosting co-founder and CEO, Kacy Carlsen. "The way that people make payments is changing, and Bitcoin presents a secure method for transferring money directly to its intended destination. We have already seen demand for the ability to pay for web hosting services with bitcoins, and we are pleased to make that possible for our customers. It is very important that vendors and service providers keep up with what their customers want. Simply, we saw many of our existing customers and new leads were using bitcoins and felt it was our obligation to enable them to use this payment method with us. Bitcoin is a growing, unstable currency, but for those customers who want to eliminate central banks and improve payment privacy, it is a popular choice.”
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