Payment processor Digital River integrates bitcoin payments

Digital River may not be as well known as PayPal, but the Minnetonka, Minnesota, online payment processor is a giant in the world of business-to-business payments. The company processed $30 billion in online transactions in 2013, with most of that coming from very large clients like Microsoft, Spotify, Logitech, Trend Mirco and Citrix. Although it might not be as headline grabbing as say, Expedia or Dish Network, the news that Digital River now accepts bitcoin for payments is very, very big news in the tech world.

Digital River executive vice president and general manager of commerce Tom Peterson, explained the company’s reasons for integrating bitcoin payments in a press release. “Because Digital River acts as the merchant- and seller-of-record, our international base of customers can accept and process bitcoin payments in their U.S. online stores with less risk than they could on their own. In addition, this business model creates an opportunity for our customers to offer payment solutions that may be in earlier stages of adoption in their domestic markets.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that all of Digital River’s clients now also accept bitcoin. Like any big company testing out a new technology, Digital River is experimenting with some of their smaller clients first. The company will allow small and mid-sized businesses to accept bitcoin via their SWREG solution platform.

Even though Digital River is a payment processor, it won’t be handling bitcoin payments directly. Instead, the company has partnered with Coinbase for their payment processing, potentially forging a strong alliance should Digital River’s bitcoin option prove popular.