VC-backed Bitcoin payments solutions company is making tracks to make Bitcoin a ‘real’ currency.

Everyone understands that a currency must be something we actually use to buy things. For a while, the hype surrounding Bitcoin was all about who is investing in it (the Winklevoss twins), and who was making it available to trade (several Binary brokers such as SetOption, , and more recently CFD brokers such as AvaTrade and Plus500).

But no mention was made of what is was actually being used for.

And if Bitcoin was just ‘out there’, but not really being used by anyone for anything, then it was clear that Bitcoin would just peter out along with the hype, and become an interesting conversation piece.

Along comes BitPay, which recently raised a modest $2 million in venture capital financing from the likes of Founders Fund, run by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. BitPay’s mission is to get regular businesses, both online and offline, to accept Bitcoin as payment.

BitPay recently claimed to be adding as many as 100 new merchants each day, and has now backed that up by announcing that they have hit 10,000 total merchants worldwide using their solution to accept Bitcoin payments.

And the phenomenon is global. The 10,000+ merchants are located in 164 countries, with the total breaking down about 50% located in North America, 25% in Europe, and 25% in the rest of the world.

We think that news like this is great for the retail forex industry, especially those brokers (like the ones mentioned above) which offer Bitcoin trading. As the currency becomes more used in the real world, there will be more awareness of Bitcoin and more desire to trade Bitcoin.

Interestingly, Peter Thiel’s old company PayPal’s Bitcoin strategy remains somewhat unclear, as PayPal keeps dragging its feet in coming to a decision about allowing Bitcoin payments.

To read the BitPay blog regarding their 10,000 merchant milestone click here.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.