ekmPowershop and Chainpay (a Bitcoin payment gateway) have entered into a strategic partnership that will allow ekmPowershop merchants to accept payment in cryptocurrency.

The partnership makes ekmPowershop the first UK eCommerce provider to offer an integrated digital currency payment system and marks a milestone in Chainpay’s recognition amongst traditional payment service providers.

ekmPowershop merchants will be able to convert Bitcoin into British Sterling, Euro or US Dollars and transfer payments into their bank account instantly. For consumers, the availability of ChainPay means that payment can be made without the need to exchange bank account details whilst taking part in a seamless, swift checkout experience.

Steven Hickey, Head of Marketing and Business Development at ekmPowershop said: “In recent times there’s been a big focus in eCommerce around customer journey and conversion rate optimisation. Offering Bitcoin gives the end consumer more choice and makes for a speedy checkout, so there’s huge benefits for retailers who support it. Teaming up with Chainpay made perfect sense as it means tens of thousands of online shops can now offer Bitcoin with no risk and a lightning quick setup. I don’t know of any other payment system where you can get up and running so quickly”.

Chainpay, which was founded in January this year has already spread its service across 36 countries. With ekmPowershop, they will be joining over 20 popular global payment systems including Paypal, Barclaycard and Amazon Payments. The partnership means that all 15,000 of ekmPowershop’s UK merchants will have the option to become amongst the first SMEs in the UK to operate a digital currency payment gateway.

Bitcoin is gradually becoming more mainstream, but for many is still a black art and understanding of the currency amongst small retailers is generally low. That’s somewhat surprising as small businesses are generally more agile than high street retailers and whilst cryptocurrencies might be a mystery to you and I, there are plenty of customers around the world with Bitcoins to spend.

ekmPowershop provides ecommerce solutions for 1 in every 5 shops in the UK so thousands of merchants will now be able to accept cryptocurrency should they wish. The integration of Chainpay coincides with the ekmPowershop’s mission to continually stay ahead of the game and enable merchants across the UK to offer customers the highest quality experience possible.