Yelp now lists businesses that accept Bitcoin
Shoppers can check into the reviews site to see whether restaurants, shops, museums, and other establishments accept digital currency payments.
On Yelp, people can find out business hours, location, delivery service, user ratings, and more. And now, they can get one more dose of information: Bitcoin payments.
The company announced Monday that it has started listing whether or not businesses accept Bitcoin. The Bitcoin information is listed under what forms of payments a business takes, such as credit cards or cash-only.
"We're constantly thinking about how to make our business attributes more useful for consumers and businesses," Yelp wrote in a blog post. "That's why we're excited to announce that as of today, we're adding a new attribute: 'Accepts Bitcoin: Yes.'"
While Bitcoin has been on a years-long roller-coaster ride -- with its value surging and plummeting, regulators applauding and dismissing it, and trading exchanges being created and imploding -- the digital currency is gradually transforming from an obscure idea into a possible payment mechanism.
Not only is Yelp including Bitcoin in its listings, but cryptocurrency ATMs are beginning to pop up, some casinos have said they'd accept digital currency payments, and even eBay has begun allowing for limited sales of bitcoins on its US and UK sites.