Yelp Officially Announces New Feature for Bitcoin Merchants

San Francisco-based merchant directory provider Yelp has officially announced a new functionality that allows bitcoin-accepting merchants to promote awareness of the payment method via its platform.

Though rumors of the new feature have circulated since as far back as 10th April, this was the first time that the company confirmed the news.

Wrote Yelp in its official blog post:

"We’re constantly thinking about how to make our business attributes more useful for consumers and businesses. That’s why we’re excited to announce that as of today, we’re adding a new attribute: 'Accepts Bitcoin: Yes'."

Business owners that accept bitcoin can now update their profile on biz.yelp.com to take advantage of the new attribute.

Finding the new feature

The new attribute will now be visible in Yelp profiles under the "More business info" section of all applicable entries.

Other attributes in this section denote whether the business accepts credit cards or has available parking.

Austin book store adds feature

One Austin, Texas-based bitcoin merchant was quick to embrace the feature, as he said he had long lobbied for Yelp to promote bitcoin.

Harlan Dietrich, owner of Brave New Books, has been accepting bitcoin for 20 months, but only more recently started using Yelp. Dietrich said that about a year ago he told the company he would refrain from getting a business account until Yelp accepted bitcoin, though he did create an account before this most recent announcement.

He expressed hope his initial holdout had an influence on this latest update, saying:

"I think I did plant a seed somewhere in the office."

From the perspective of the ecosystem, Dietrich said he is happy that Yelp has introduced the new attribute, as it is likely to be seen by the platform's tech-friendly users.

He added:

"I think it's great that we're specifically targeting [early tech adopters] through a service like Yelp."

'Buzz about bitcoin'

Yelp's blog post also came with some additional information for those who may be unfamiliar about bitcoin.

The company, which has a market capitalization of nearly $4bn, lauded bitcoin as a "fast, secure and low-cost digital payments" tool that enables businesses to conduct transactions without storing sensitive user data.

Added the company:

"We’re hopeful the introduction of the Bitcoin attribute will provide yet another way for consumers to connect with great local businesses."

Image via Yelp