Bitcoin is getting more and more traction and is getting accepted by the general public. In February the Chicago Sun-Times has announced that it has partnered up with San Francisco-based Bitcoin startup Coinbase to accept Bitcoin payments, since the tests were very successful.
In the test that the newspaper did, they received more than 700 Bitcoin donations over a 24-hour trial period. However those BTC didn’t go to the newspaper in question. The BTC were given to a non-profit Taproot foundation, which offers pro-bono service work to organizations tackling social problems.
The company indicated that it chose to partner with Coinbase as it would offer subscribers the quickest way to begin paying for content with Bitcoin. This announcement makes the Sun-Times the first US newspaper to accept Bitcoin as a payment option.
BitWall versus Coinbase.
The announcement that the Sun-Times would partner with Coinbase is surprising given that the major newspaper had partnered for a test with BitWall earlier this year.
It is not yet clear how the Chicago Sun-Times partnership with Coinbase would affect the companies potentially moving forward with a micropayments partnership. Since the Crypto world is ever expanding and there are new crypto currencies created every day it is best to create some rules on what coins can be accepted. The editor in chief wants to play it safe and is currently only accepting Bitcoin payments for their subscriptions. That can be one of the reasons that the Chicago sun-times opted for Coinbase instead of Bitwall.
BTC and publishing; a match made in heaven?
The Chicago Sun-Times is certainly not unique in accepting Bitcoin. There are many Bitcoin blogs and news sites accept formal donations. The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad would also begin experimenting with Bitcoin micropayments but they still seem to be in a test phase. It has to be said that the US and other parts of the world are using BTC more generally then here in Europe.
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