South Koreans will be able to use bitcoin to pay on thousands of websites, after payments gateway giant Galaxia Communications announced it will add bitcoin as a payment option.

Galaxia is one of the top three companies processing online payments in Korea, with more than 10,000 domestic and international websites on its client list.

It is also one of the top mobile gift certificate and voucher sellers in Korea, which may now be purchased with bitcoin as well.

Local bitcoin payment processor and software developer Coinplug will provide technical assistance for bitcoin transactions.

Challenges

Galaxia Communications’ Senior VP and COO, Yongkwang Kim, said he first heard about bitcoin last year and keeps his own wallet.

He said, however, there were some challenges convincing others at the company to accept bitcoin, given that news about digital currency “is not always positive” and it is not seen as completely reliable.

Since Coinplug will handle processing and exchange, though, in the end there was little problem introducing bitcoin as it will be converted to fiat before Galaxia sees it.

Kim added there were no critical issues or specific challenges to bitcoin implementation on the technical side:

“We already operate diverse payment options and relatively it feels easy.”

Galaxia and Coinplug

Galaxia Communications is listed on the KOSDAQ (Korea’s equivalent to NASDAQ) exchange and is an affiliate of the Hyosung conglomerate.

Coinplug, which produces a number of bitcoin consumer and merchant apps for Android devices and launched Korea’s first bitcoin ATM back in March, is one of the companies leading bitcoin adoption in that country.

In April it secured its second $400,000 venture funding round.

The company also announced it will soon launch a new website and wallet platform, including new merchant payment features such as instant buy and sell.

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