Overstock.com’s CEO Patrick Byrne explains some reasons why Overstock now accepts Bitcoins:
Fortune: Do you own any bitcoins?
Patrick Byrne: No. I own gold.
Really, how much gold?
A lot. Let’s just say enough that if zombies walked the Earth I will have enough gold that me and mine are taken care of.
But you’re obviously a bitcoin fan. Why?
There are business and philosophical reasons. First, the business reason: I think there are a legitimate number of consumers who want to be able to shop with bitcoin. They like the anonymity of the currency. So far, the market has only served them with shady websites, like Silk Road. Also, it saves us about 2% from interchange fees. It’s no secret that our net margin is about 2% now. And so the savings would be a very substantial improvement to our bottom line.
As far as the philosophical reason: I am from the Austrian School of Economics, which means we’re the guys who hate fiat money. The long-run value of all fiat money is zero. If you believe in limited government, you want to have a monetary system that is based on something where no government mandarin can just create money with a stroke of a pen. Gold is a solution, we’re not going to bring back the gold standard any time soon. We’re not going to get rid of the Federal Reserve any time soon, so bitcoin is a step in the right direction.
