Silicon Valley Whales Buy Diamonds in the Millions With Bitcoin

2018 might not be the best year for crypto investors so far, but a lot of wealth is still in the hands of long-term holders. The latest example of this comes from Silicon Valley where some people are using bitcoin to buy millions worth of expensive timepieces, diamonds and other luxury items.

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Crypto Surpasses Credit Cards

Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, a Silicon Valley-based ultra-high-end watches and jewelry boutique which implemented cryptocurrency payments back in 2014, reports that crypto transactions have grown to 20% of sales in the past year, helping the company close expensive sales. The company accepts payments in cryptocurrencies such as BTC, BCH and XMR, but only from authorized and approved Bitpay wallets. It started doing so as an easier and more secure alternative to wire transfers, providing much faster transfer times than the old legacy systems.

“Cryptocurrency has surpassed the volume of retail credit-card purchases in the company in a very short time period,” CEO Stephen Silver said. “We’ve created revenue that the company would not even enjoy without being able to accept cryptocurrency…. Large sums of money are where we are finding cryptocurrency to be a huge advantage.”

Indispensable Tool at Cradle of Innovation

The company has been monitoring the development of cryptocurrency for years, “Given that Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry is based in Silicon Valley, the cradle of innovation,” president Jared Silver told diamonds industry publication Rapaport News. “In 2014, we felt it had matured to the point that we could bring the technology into our store.” The company also pays its willing suppliers with cryptocurrency, however “this would be contingent on the supply chain adopting the technology,” he added.

At the bottom line, accepting cryptocurrencies is now an “indispensable” payment method according to the jeweler. The average crypto deal is close to seven figures, and the company can offer no limit on the amount it will accept per sale, since bitcoin transactions are irreversible unlike credit cards. The president also revealed that the company recently received a million-dollar cryptocurrency payment.

Is bitcoin a perfect match for buying expensive luxury items? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry.

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