Samer Halimeh New York has become the world’s first diamond dealer and ‘Bond Street’ level jeweller to accept Bitcoin.

The luxury diamond brand is using Bitpay as its merchant services provider and the portal will host the company’s Bitcoin wallet and supply for trading.

Samer Halimeh New York will now accept Bitcoins as payment for purchasing and trading diamonds for business to business transactions and payment for jewellery and individual diamonds for customers.

The retailer can provide clients with jewellery priced in Bitcoins (BTC) with collections starting from £5,000 (1.42 BTC).

Bitcoin is a digital currency which started in 2009 and can be transferred through the internet. This allows direct trades or purchases between a person and a company, without the need to go to a bank or clearing house.

Bitcoins can be exchanged for different currencies around the world and is kept on a digital wallet, computer or mobile device.

Samer Halimeh, chief executive of Samer Halimeh NY, said: “We are the first diamond dealer and ‘Bond Street’ level luxury jeweller to start accepting and trading using Bitcoins. This is because we have seen rising enquiries for this digital currency from clients, suppliers and trading partners.”

Halimeh added: “We also believe that in the future the currency will revolutionise the luxury goods marketplace and the use of this digital currency will make trading and purchases for our clients and contacts easier, cheaper and much faster.

“I think now that we are switching over to this fully we will see a big rise in Bitcoin transactions.”