NCR Silver: Merchants More Inclined to Use Bitcoin over Apple Pay

December 1, 2014 By: Michael Cheng

NCR Silver merchants have continued to gravitate towards bitcoin despite Apple Pay’s bold presence in the market.

Reggie Kimble, the point-of-sale company’s product manager, mentioned that users are constantly asking about the cryptocurrency and how they can incorporate it in their business.

Kimble admitted in an interview that the company was first hesitant in offering bitcoin. NCR’s strategy was a slow, low risk approach that involved deep research and market observation, similar to other large brands and governments.

But now that merchants are responding in a positive manner, the company has begun increasing its activities in bitcoin-related campaigns.

NCR Silver executives expressed their interest in the Bitcoin St Petersburg Bowl, a popular NCAA college football playoff game sponsored this year by BitPay. If all goes well, the leading POS provider may take an active role in the next event.

When asked about the company’s plans, Kimble said, “We’re going to have our POS solution in the stadium in their fanzone, accepting bitcoin for transactions. So, when we look at opportunities to co-market and support one of our partners, and you couple that with merchant and consumer demand, it becomes a priority on our end to get that development work done.”

NCR Silver introduced bitcoin as a payment option in early November. Since then, merchants have been able to transact with the digital currency through a mobile POS system. The cryptocurrency offers payment flexibility for small and growing establishments, which is currently the main issue that merchants are having with Apple Pay.

Many feel that bitcoin adjusts to the needs of transforming businesses and not the other way around. Apple Pay was recently accused of only catering to major retailers — though Apple has received pushback from these same retailers favoring their own mobile payment app, CurrentC.