Coinbase Launches WooCommerce Plugin For Easy Access to Crypto Payments

Coinbase Commerce, a non-custodial crypto payment solution, has launched a plugin for the open source e-commerce platform WooCommerce. The move, which comes days after crypto exchange Coinbase added support for the British pound, is geared towards providing easy access to crypto payment options for web-based marketplaces.

The plugin, which has been posted on GitHub, will allow any WooCommerce-powered web store to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) as a payment method. The process of adding support for Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently on-going.

In addition to the plugin, a React component has also been released (which will allow React users to embed a Coinbase Commerce checkout in their application), along with a Python Library for the Coinbase Commerce API (with more said to be under development).

In a blog post on Medium, Coinbase elaborated on the scope of WooCommerce and what the new plugin means for cryptocurrencies:

“The widely-used plugin powers more than 28% of all online stores — and all of them now have access to cryptocurrency payments from customers around the world.” “This increased access will lead to more widespread adoption, and ultimately, moves us closer to our goal of an open financial system”,

the post added.

Coinbase Commerce describes itself as a provider of “truly peer-to-peer” payments – customers’ payments are transferred directly into merchants’ wallets, which means merchants do not have to pay transaction fees and they maintain complete control over their funds.

While Coinbase is not the first to introduce such a plugin, their WooCommerce plugin marks an important step towards making cryptocurrencies an easy and convenient payment option. However, the fact remains that most of the crypto community is currently more interested in ‘hodling’ rather than spending – perhaps the wider and easy availability of crypto payment options will change that.