Astutium Ltd were the first ICANN Accredited Domain Registrar to accept the Digital Cryto-Currency “BitCoins” (accepted since Dec 2012 – simply select Bitcoin/BitPay as the payment gateway at the end of the checkout process).
We’re proud to take bitcoins in exchange for domains, hosting, virtual/dedicated servers, minecraft gaming servers and colocation – the internet is all about changing the paradigm and the bitcoin project is a global gamechanger in monetary transactions.
Later this year, Astutuium Affiliates will have the option to withdraw their commissions not only as credits to their account and by paypal, but also by BitCoins 🙂
Regularly we get asked “What are these bitcoins” so …
What is Bitcoin ?
Bitcoin is a digital e-currency which can be used in place of traditional money/payment processes.
Where do Bitcoins come from ?
Each of the 21 million possible Bitcoins are given as a reward to “miners” (people dedicating processing time to solving complex mathematical puzzles) in exchange for proof of their work.
Why should I care about Bitcoin ?
As a “proof of concept” bitcoin is shaking up the financial world. One day (probably a long way off) all money will be purely digital, bitcoin is helping move that one step closer
If you wish to learn more about Bitcoin, watch this short video
Then travel over to the BitCoin wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
The primary advantages of Bitcoins are:
- Speed and price
You can transfer money anywhere in the world within minutes with negligible fees. - Suitable for micro-payments
You can pay as little as 0.00003405 BTC (around 1/10th of a Penny) - No central authority
Bitcoin is not dependent on any company or government to maintain its value - You can start accepting Bitcoins almost instantly
Without setting up merchant accounts, buying credit card processing hardware, etc (just download the free bitcoin client) - Bitcoins cannot be counterfeited
So no more shining UV lights at Pound Notes - Transactions cannot be reversed
Once confirmed there is no risk of chargebacks - No transaction blocking or account freezing
We have seen governments freeze bank accounts of dissidents and payment processors refuse to process certain types of transactions (like wikileaks) - A known amount of inflation
Whilst more complex to exchange fiat currency with BitCoins, their value is determined by supply & demand, not a government printing more of them (free from quantative easing)
A common “myth” is that Bitcoins are anonymous – whilst they are less easily traced than some types of e-money, all bitcoin transactions are public (in the blockchain).
Two things to be aware of when starting to use bitcoins
- The blockchain (list of all bitcoin transactions) is quite large and will take a few days to synchronise to your machine when you first install the client – you can stop it and it will automatically carry on next time it loads
- You MUST take regular backups of your digital wallet and keep them on a USB stick – you do not want to lose access to your bitcoins in the event of disk corruption
Need any internet services and have some bitcoins in your wallet ? Head over to Astutium – We Take Coins where you can order domains, hosting, servers and more, and pay by your choice of cash, cheque, bacs, credit-card, debit-card, amex, paypal and bitcoins.
