Bitcoin hailed as a currency solution by British doughnut firm Project D
British luxury doughnut business Project D has staked a claim to being the first bakery in the UK to accept customer payment by cryptocurrency, following in the high-profile footsteps of Tesla, Apple and Rolex, writes Neill Barston.
The company has specialised in highly decorated and Instagram-friendly ranges, and believed the opportunity to engage with one of the world’s fastest growing currencies was too good to miss.
Bitcoins and other virtual currencies are now being accepted by the Spondon-based bakery on the outskirts of Derby, to help make online payments even easier for its customers.
Co-owner Max Poynton (left of pic), said: “We pride ourselves on being forward-thinking and we think we could be the first company in Derbyshire to accept virtual payments, but we certainly won’t be the last.
“The fact that some of the biggest companies in the world now accept the many forms of cryptocurrency indicates that it will play a significant role in the future of purchasing, possibly because it’s cheaper, faster and more secure.
“Ever since we moved our operation online we have been busier than ever, which just proves that customers want that simplicity, so the next logical step was to accept an online currency.”
As the company noted digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and Dogecoin are increasingly garnering mainstream attention, although their value can fluctuate wildly, which has previously been seen as a barrier by many sectors for their wider introduction.
However, as Project D explained, in recent weeks, Bitcoin in recent weeks has risen to a new record high of more than £36,000, after Elon Musk’s Tesla bought £1.1bn of them and said it would accept them as payment for its cars.
Last year, Project D picked up an innovation award from Marketing Derby after impressing the city’s business community with their entrepreneurial spirit during lockdown.
More recently the company, which is run by Max and his two friends Mathew Bond and Jacob Watts, became a winner of the Lloyds Bank Small Business of 2020 awards after growing its annual turnover by 300 per cent last year.
Max added: “We were quick to realise that adapting our website, which was only a landing page originally, could help Project D survive lockdown and we were able to get this up and running within a week.
“It’s clear that today’s customers are tech-savvy and prefer to do their shopping and browsing online. The natural progression from this is to start offering cryptocurrency and we’re really looking forward to seeing just how many people are willing to purchase in this way.
“We want Project D to be as successful and well respected as Tesla and Rolex, so we are very happy to be following in their footsteps.”
