Specialist property management company Rylands Associates have demonstrated their innovation in the sector by allowing clients and customers to pay for services using digital currency.
Rylands Associates was started in 2012 by Chairman Grant Cooper, an experienced leasehold property specialist and now employs 60 staff in its Essex and central London offices. Grant said: “We could have waited for demand from customers and clients for payments via cryptocurrency however we like to stay one step ahead so we’ve started working with bitcoin markets leaders Bitpay. Our website now accepts bitcoin payments as well as more traditional forms of currency.”
According to research produced by Cambridge University(1), in April this year there were between 2.9 million and 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin. This shows significant growth from 2013 when there were 300,000 to 1.3 million users.
Grant added: “Bitcoin has been around for a while now and its usage is clearly growing. We want to make things easier for customers and clients in all their transactions with us. We chose to work with Bitpay as they are market leaders and work with household names around the world.”
“From a business perspective we are not only offering customers a wider choice and up to date technology but it makes business sense, as the costs involved in processing are less than the charges involved in credit card payments.”
Bitcoin is a borderless payment network. Users can send and receive payment in any amount, from anywhere in the world, from any computer or mobile device.
Another benefit of bitcoin is said to be reduced risk of identity and payment fraud as no personal information is handed over as part of the transaction, and so it offers greater protection for both the customer and the business.
