CBT Nuggets created a new series around bitcoins for the average user to start paying with bitcoins and more advanced users to start accepting bitcoins for goods and services
Bitcoin, the global digital currency, has made a lot of strides in the past two months in terms of mainstream adoption. Last week, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Japan-based Mt. Gox, partnered with Silicon Valley startup CoinLab to handle its US operations, and tap its connections to American banks and investors.
Earlier in February, Mega began accepting bitcoin payment for its cloud storage services through its partner, BitVoucher. Mega reseller, Hosting.co.uk, began accepting bitcoins for all of its web hosting services around the same time.
As more online vendors and service providers warm up to the idea of accepting bitcoin, there is an overwhelming amount of information online on how to start. Recongnizing this opportunity, IT training video provider CBT Nuggets created a new series around bitcoins for the average user to start paying with bitcoins and more advanced users to start accepting bitcoins for goods and services.
“We created this series for the average human to get their brain around this digital cash and how it works, and more specifically how an average person can get involved, immediately start doing transactions and learn the process through the videos with no risk, and actually get comfortable with the idea,” Keith Barker, CBT Nuggets trainer says in a phone interview with the WHIR. “We built the training that I wish had been available for me back in June when I was first being introduced to it.”
The bitcoin video training series on CBT Nuggets is free, but those who want to donate can do so with bitcoins directly on the website. Its other IT training videos – including Microsoft, Linux and Cisco – are based on a paid subscription model.
With more than 27 years of experience in IT, Barker is an expert in Cisco training, and has worked with CBT Nuggets as a trainer since 2012, but was only recently introduced to bitcoins.
“It’s a beautiful paradigm shift. What I love about bitcoin is all the motivators are in place. With bitcoin, because the backend is all mathematically encrypted and cryptographically verified it makes the risk very low for the person selling goods and services,” Baker says.
For web hosts, bitcoins can be a huge opportunity for reaching new customers in international markets. The video series could help web hosts evaluate whether they want to start accepting bitcoins.
Read more: Bitcoin Payment and Web Hosting – Is Digital Currency an Opportunity?
“From a business perspective, all they need to understand is that number one, there are no chargebacks. Number two, there’s no fraud, identity theft or risk to them because once they have the money there is no recourse for the consumer to get the money back,” Dan Charbonneau, CEO of CBT Nuggets tells the WHIR. “Finally, the bitcoin that they hold, as bitcoins become adopted, gets more and more valuable over time. They are accepting a currency that is actually going to be worth more tomorrow than it is today. There is really nothing to lose from the perspective of a business.”
“From the perspective of the consumer, you’ve got the downside because you have to trust the company, once you send them your cash, you can’t get your cash back,” he says. “But then the upside is that in order for businesses to be competitive, they have to be extra stringent about demonstrating how trustworthy they are to the world.”
There are 14 videos in the bitcoin series on CBT Nuggets, and most videos range from 15 to 30 minutes. The whole series clocks in at four hours, and is a good place for a web host that wants to learn the basics of bitcoins to start.
” As bitcoin is adopted, and more people use it and want it, and have to have it, the value will increase until it reaches the point that it is the global currency,” Charbonneau says. “Bitcoin represents more than just money to me. To me it represents freedom. It’s the ultimate equalizer in ecommerce where you can have global competition across the board and it becomes a society where the best goods or services are sold.”
Talk back: Do you accept bitcoins? Do you think that with appropriate training you would feel more comfortable starting to accept bitcoins? Let us know in a comment.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson is the Editor in Chief of the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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Bitcoin adoption is increasing and reaching new businesses every day. The more people who get into this virtual currency, the better! For those who haven’t joined the revolution yet, check out http://thebitcoinmaster.blogspot.com and get started!
Accepting Bitcoin has been an incredible boon to our martial arts clothing and equipment sales – although adoption is still relatively niche it gives us the ability to sell items to customers almost anywhere in the world.
We also de-shackle ourselves from the prohibitive limits some payment processors impose, for example, with our traditional ninja weapon items instead of an all-out ban on selling them at all WE get to decide through our own verification procedures whether a sale is to an approved buyer or not.