Thousands of Japanese Retailers, Restaurants May Stop Accepting Bitcoin
More than 5,000 retail stores and restaurants in Japan may stop accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment starting Aug. 1, 2017. This possibility could push through if Bitcoin payment processors will halt their services.
Bitcoin payment processors plans
The retailers and restaurants accept Bitcoin through payment processors bitFlyer and Coincheck. The latter is also partnering with Recruit Lifestyle in order to expand its operation and accept more than 260,000 additional stores across Japan as clients.
BitFlyer, however, has announced that it could stop Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals, along with its payment services from July 31 to Aug. 2. Coincheck has separately announced that it will temporarily halt Bitcoin deposit and withdrawal starting Aug. 1.
The company says:
“On Aug. 1, 2017, we may temporarily suspend Bitcoin deposit and withdrawal for Coincheck exchange and payment services to protect users assets…The resume date is unspecified, but we expect several hours to several days. Also, if we decide that a Bitcoin fork will not take place on Aug. 1, 2017, 12 am, the suspension of services will not happen.”