Leading online gambling payment pioneer snubs Bitcoin

payment pioneer, NETELLER has snubbed Bitcoin.

The leading online gambling payments pioneer NETELLER have snubbed Bitcoin.

Based in the Isle of Man, NETELLER are a digital payments service, who recently revised its customer terms-of-service agreement to explicitly prohibit the use of digital currencies.

NETELLER offers e-wallet and digital money transfer services, with a heavy focus on the online gambling market. It’s headquarters are in the island’s capital, Douglas.

NETELLER was created in the late 1990s, and is owned by Optimal Payments PLC.

NETELLER processes billions of pounds in financial transactions each year, and was an early pioneer in the online gambling payments sector.

In 2005, NETELLER provided payment services to more than 80% of gaming merchants across the world.

According to NETELLER’s newly revised terms of services agreement, the range of restricted types of transactions now includes the term “virtual currency”, which specifically refers to any type of action on its platform, that may involve Bitcoin or other digital currencies.

The company’s updated policy on banned transactions now restricts:

“[…] using NETLLER to facilitate the trade, exchange, purchase or sale of bitcoins, or any other virtual currency.”

The move has not come as a surprise to Paul Davis, a barrister and solicitor with Isle of Man-based Group General Counsel, as he believes NETELLER’s policy change is largely in line with most other companies in the mainstream digital transaction industry.

Speaking to the website CoinDesk.com, he said:

“In truth NETELLER is a global company, and its presence in the UK, Canada, Bulgaria and other places around the world is much greater than its physical operation on the Isle of Man. Neither the Island nor its financial regulator would seek to impose an obligation on a licensee to service any particular vertical; rather the island’s stance is that it is open to quality digital currency businesses who are welcome on our shores.”