ShapeShift releases the Shifty Button, a tool allowing online merchants to start accepting payments in 11 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and leading altcoins Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Darkcoin.

The Shifty Button is a free and simple HTML code, which can be placed into any payment page. When added to a website, users are then given the ability to deposit any of the altcoins supported by ShapeShift's exchange, including Litecoin, Peercoin, Dogecoin, Darkcoin, Namecoin, Feathercoin, Blackcoin, BitcoinDark, Quark, and Nubits. Altcoins are then automatically converted into bitcoins to the website owners.

"As the altcoin industry continued to grow over 2014, [we] realized that there was a definite need for an easy way for businesses to incorporate altcoin payment options onto their online stores," explained ShapeShift CEO Beorn Gonthier.

"The easier the process is, the more places altcoin users can buy goods online, and the more growth the altcoin community will see in 2015."

Industry leaders expressed respect to ShapeShift's innovative mindset and encourage its resolution to bring crypto to the masses. Director at the Litecoin Association, Andrew Vegetabile, told Cointelegraph he has been a long time supporter and user of ShapeShift, stating:

"Shapeshift continues to innovate with this ease of integration [for] merchants that benefit the crypto ecosystem as a whole. [...] I love their service, and have used it multiple times. I can only hope that we see this kind of innovation with other companies in the future in order to make it easier for everyone to use [cryptocurrencies to pay] merchants."

"These kinds of plug ins really help with mass adoption in my opinion; the more general customers and webpages use Bitcoin or Darkcoin, the better for the whole industry," commented Philipp Engelhorn, press and media relations officier at Darkcoin.

He continued:

"The Shifty Button by ShapeShift is another great browser plug in, which makes Altcoin purchases much easier and accessible to the masses. Sure we prefer that people stay in the Darkcoin System due to privacy [concerns], but for general use and small purchases where Darkcoin is not accepted yet, ShapeShift's Shifty Button is great. Customers can ‘Darksend’ DRK into the system to stay private/anonymous or do regular transfers if they do not care about their privacy on that specific purchase."

Launched in August 2014 in Switzerland, ShapeShift is an instant cryptocurrency exchange that operates on a strict "No Fiat" policy, meaning it does not use any banks or governmental currencies in its operations.

ShapeShift offers conversion services for more than 10 cryptocurrencies, and is believed to be the fastest and most efficient way to convert between cryptocurrencies within the ecosystem. The service does not require user accounts, registration or deposits.

A lot of effort has been made during year 2014 to boost merchant adoption, and popular Bitcoin payment processing companies such Coinbase and BitPay, had quickly understood the necessity of allowing businesses to accept Bitcoin while given them the ability to hedge market risks through automatic conversion.

In December 2014, BitPay shared some fairly optimistic figures, stating that among its 44,000 clients user base, more than 10% keep all of their settlement in Bitcoin, about 40% keep a portion of their settlement in Bitcoin, and the remaining 50% convert it all to fiat currency, reported CCN.

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