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People looking to spend hard-earned virtual cash on new parts for their car now have a place to go in Westchester County: Straub Auto Repairs in Hastings-on-Hudson.
The repair shop recently made the jump to accepting bitcoin, a digital currency created in 2009, as a form of payment. It is the first Westchester auto shop to do so, according to CoinMap, an interactive online map of brick-and-mortar stores that take bitcoins.
Harry Straub, who since 1991 has owned the shop his father started in 1965, said two factors made accepting bitcoins attractive to him: It gives him access to a new revenue stream - people with bitcoins who need car repairs - and the service fees on bitcoin transactions are miniscule compared to credit card fees.
"I started reading that a couple of bigger chain stores and whatnot have taken on bitcoin," he said. "So once I started figuring out more about it, I figured it doesn't hurt to be a little ahead of the curve.... It can only bring you business; it's not going to scare anybody away."
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. will accept the currency, adding to a list that includes online retailer Overstock.com, the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association and Virgin Galactic, the space flight arm of Richard Branson's Virgin Group Ltd.
But Straub may not have taken notice of such news reports without the steady prodding of...