As one of the most popular design contest sites with more than 15,000 completed logo contests, we have a wide and diverse user base. We’re always looking into new ways to make it easier for our clients to access and use 48hourslogo.com. Today, we are pleased to announce that 48hourlogo.com has begun accepting Bitcoin for payment on contests.
By accepting Bitcoins as payment we are now open to a larger, untapped client base. 48hourslogo.com is the only design contest website to accept Bitcoin as payment. Under the current conversion rate, this means that starting a $29 contest will just cost 0.05 Bitcoins. As a business that operates solely online, it seems natural to accept a form of currency that is also solely online.
To get a contest started using Bitcoins, click “Start A Project” and fill out the design brief as normal. Once that is set up, click on the “Bitcion Accepted Here” icon at the bottom of the page. This will take you to our Bitcoins accepted page. It lists two steps, 1) Create Your Contest and 2) Pay Using Bitcoins. Since you’ve completed the contest brief, skip to Step 2 and enter your email and amount of money due for your contest, then click “Convert Now.” 48HoursLogo.com uses the Bitcoin Best Bid exchange rate from bitpay.com for the most up-to-day conversion ratings. The acceptance of payment is currently completed manually, so you may experience a small delay. Once this option is used with more regularity, we can switch over to an automatic approval process.
So What is Bitcoin?
It’s easiest to think of Bitcoin as another form of currency, along with the Dollar, Euro, or Yen. Instead of being restricted to a certain region though, Bitcoin is used only online over the internet. That’s right, there are no physical Bitcoins, they are 100% digital. Simply stated, it is digital money that you can send through the internet.
Introduced in 2009 to test the theory of an online only currency, Bitcoin is proving that digital currency can work. Toted as the first decentralized digital currency, transactions are made directly person to person. There are no banks or clearing houses acting as middlemen. Bitcoins are protected by cryptography and transactions are verified by miners (I’ll explain “miners” in a bit). The software is open source, so every transaction ever made via Bitcoin is completely open to the public, anyone can check the records for themselves.
When you sign up with Bitcoin, you are given a personal signature and digital wallet. You can get Bitcoins by one of two ways: 1) purchasing them through an online conversion sites such as mtgox.com or 2) mining them by allowing a software application to run in the background of your computer (this makes you a “miner”). Mining serves two purposes, to verify transactions made between users and create new algorithms Bitcoin can use. Once discovered, you are awarded Bitcoins. All of the easy ones have been found, and only so many Bitcoins are released per year, making mining for Bitcoins increasingly difficult. In fact only 21 million Bitcoins will ever be created.
Advantages and Perks
The benefits include direct, person to person transfer of currency. Since there are no banks or clearing houses involved there are little to no fees. Bitcoins can be used in every country across the globe, technically anywhere there is internet access. Your account with Bitcoin can never be frozen, and there are no prerequisites to open an account or limits to its usage.
Welcoming a New Age
Bitcoin proved it legitimacy in 2012 as a digital currency. Now at the end of 2013 you can pay for many services this way, including purchasing tablets, phones, computers, toys, video games, and even pizza. While you can’t yet pay for groceries or bills with them, I’m sure it’s on the horizon. As we prepare for continued growth and contests in 2014, accepting Bitcoins will allow us to draw in new customers and be a convenience to our current ones.
Do you have a Bitcoin account? What do you think about “digital currency?” Sound off in the comments section below, we would love to hear your thoughts!
To start your contest with Bitcoins, click here.
For more information on Bitcoins visit their site: http://bitcoin.org/en/