Jagex is the first merchant to accept bitcoins with via Adyen payments platform. Adyen partners with BitPay, the world's largest bitcoin payment processor, to enable merchants to seamlessly accept bitcoin payments.

Jagex has consistently been a leader in providing payment options for gamers, being an early adopter of the now-common free-to-play gaming model. By offering bitcoin as a payment method, it is giving its customers greater freedom to pay with the methods they prefer. Furthermore, by offering bitcoin – a payment method that is yet to see widespread adoption by mainstream shoppers – it is reinforcing its position as a gaming technology leader among its tech-savvy users.

Commenting on the roll out of bitcoin as a payment option, David Parrott, payment services director at Jagex, said, "An advantage of bitcoin is that it is still new and shiny enough to generate interest in the payment experience simply through the fact that it exists. There are people with investment in the system, looking for new and cool places to spend their cash. As a business that operates on a freemium model - where the payment process needs to be compelling enough to convert cost free customers into paying ones - not having a barrier to entry for bitcoin users makes sense."

The announcement follows increasing investment in the startup ecosystem that supported bitcoin throughout 2014, and is being adopted by a growing number of leading global brands, including Microsoft, Virgin, Shopify, and Amazon.com.

"Interest in bitcoin continues to grow among merchants. And as a business focused on merchant needs, we are excited to give merchants the ability to securely accept bitcoin payments, alongside over 250 payment methods and 187 transaction currencies that we currently offer," said Roelant Prins, chief commercial officer, Adyen.

"With Adyen, we have a reliable partnership backed up by robust technology that enables global business to accept bitcoins with all the advantages of working with a stable, scalable payments platform," said Moe Levin, BitPay's head of Europe. "As more and more merchants roll out bitcoin as a payment option, we expect to see it gradually increase as a favored payment method by a growing number of consumers."