Japan's largest Internet company Rakuten Inc. has started to accept Bitcoin as a payment option on its American portal Rakuten.com, MasterCard describes cryptocurrencies as an innovative competitor, and more top stories for March 17. Japan’s Rakuten becomes largest E-Commerce Business to accept Bitcoin Japan's largest Internet company Rakuten Inc. started to accept Bitcoin as a payment option on its American portal Rakuten.com. The company said this first integration should be followed closely by other global marketplaces integrations, including its German and Austrian e-commerce portals. Yaz Iida, President of Rakuten USA, said: “Rakuten’s mission is to empower the world through the …

If only everything were available for purchase in Bitcoin. Oh, wait, it is. Anything from plane tickets to houses, sex toys to groceries, can be purchased just by using CheapAir or BitPremier, Purse or Magic (respectively). But you can also just buy good ol'-fashioned gift cards. The companies Gyft, eGifter, and newly-rebranded Gift Off stand out in the crypto-for-gift card space: 1. Gyft Founded in 2012 with the aim to eliminate the use of physical gift cards, Gyft began accepting Bitcoin relatively early on. They offer cards for over 200 retailers, including: Amazon Whole Foods Home Depot Starbucks Target Best …

On 24th March Gyft has officially announced that their gift cards are now accepted in shopping venues of the Walmart Company, including the discounter Sam’s Club. The arrangement palpably increases the amount of venues accepting Bitcoin and the variety of products to be exchanged for the virtual asset. Principles of Operation Cointelegraph has already reported about the service Gyft and the goods it provides to its customers. The gift cards issued have denominations of $25, $50, $100, $250 and $500. Spending them brings 3% back in form of loyalty points some compare to a discount equal to 3% on further …