An award-winning architecture and interior design firm in Singapore says it is the first of its kind to accept bitcoin payments from clients. Furthermore, the company intends to keep the coins to pay its business costs in future.

TOPOS Design studio, located in Upper Cross Steet near Singapore’s central business district, is an international architectural and interior design firm that has won seven International Design Awards in the past two years and has been shortlisted for two others.

It also has offices in Hong Kong and Dubai, and designs for clients in all major areas: hospitality, corporate, commercial and residential.

Savings and efficiency

Design Principal Alan Fan, who founded TOPOS Design in 2005, said:

“Bitcoin not only provides our clients with another form of payment option, it lowers our operational costs and increases the efficiency of our payment system for our overseas accounts”

TOPOS Design’s Amy Buxton said the company was convinced of bitcoin’s benefits by local ATM company Bitcoin Exchange: “As a company we hadn’t really considered it until we spoke to Zann Kwan from Bitcoin Exchange and she highlighted the many benefits of us as a company accepting bitcoins, especially as a number of our projects are overseas.”

Bitcoin Exchange is also a Singapore pioneer, launching Asia’s first public bitcoin ATM in a shopping mall in March.

Accepting bitcoin could also be a good way to increase the firm’s customer base, she said, especially internationally.

No need for conversion

In another potentially healthy sign for the world bitcoin economy, TOPOS Design also wants to keep the bitcoins it earns, with a view to spending them as bitcoins too.

“As we would like to keep the bitcoins we shall not be using a merchant payment processor, unless of course we require working capital, however we foresee that we will build up our bitcoins and hopefully use these as a means of payment for business transactions in the future.”

TOPOS Design’s previous clients have included OCBC Bank, The Bank of Singapore, Emaar Properties and Chevron.

Images courtesy TOPOS Design