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Sharps Pixley said this week that it will start accepting bitcoin as a payment method for gold and other precious metals.
Gold dealer Sharps Pixley will start accepting bitcoin as a payment method for gold and other precious metals, the company said on Tuesday (September 26).
As geopolitical tensions continue to increase, demand for gold as a safe-haven asset has soared. Allowing investors to pay for gold using bitcoin, which is seen as a low-fee, transparent and easy-to-transfer currency, will make transactions faster and cost effective, the company noted.
“Many investors in Bitcoin would like the option of holding intrinsic value in a traditional safe haven asset like gold; and be able to switch across in a simple and cost effective way,” said Sharps Pixley CEO Ross Norman. “That avenue is now open to them.”
The London-based company will allow customers to pay via bitcoin processor BitPay.
“We are bridging the gap between the world’s oldest currency and its newest, offering new and existing customers the means to exchange and diversify digital currency for a real, tangible asset which they can store and trade at Sharps Pixley,” said Giles Maber, business development director at Sharps Pixley.
It’s worth noting that at least some investors have been doing the opposite, and using bitcoin to diversify away from gold. Bitcoin prices have risen astronomically since the beginning of the year, leaving many market participants wondering if bitcoin is the new gold.
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, has outperformed the yellow metal since the start of the year. Its price increased from $997.69 to an all-time high of $5,000 earlier in September.
However, prices pulled back after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) called the cryptocurrency a “fraud” that could eventually “blow up.” In addition, bitcoin was hit recently by reports that China plans to ban initial coin offerings and shut down exchanges.
Since then, bitcoin has been hovering around $4,000, still up almost 300 percent since January. Click here to read more about why 2017 might be the time to invest in bitcoin.
As of 3:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, gold was trading at $1,299.90 per ounce. Meanwhile, bitcoin was trading at $3,920.51.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
