By frank, Feb 15, 2013

A new Web site – PizzaForCoins.com – lets Americans spend bitcoins to order pizzas online. For now, only Domino’s Pizza orders are accepting the virtual currency but a couple of popular brands are coming soon. Each order though comes with a fee, which can make bitcoins-paid pizza orders more expensive than those paid with credit card or cash.

How It Works
PizzaForCoins.com takes orders and relays them to the chosen store. The Web site then receives bitcoins as payment before placing the order and settling the bill on the vendor side. The order is then delivered to your provided address or carried out of the store.

Expand usability
Web site founders Matthew Burkinshaw and Riley Alexander explained that they made PizzaForCoins.com to “expand the usability of bitcoins on the open market.” The duo previously created the GiftsForCoins.com retail site which is aimed at selling gifts cards for bitcoins.

The Web site service is groundbreaking because it could pave the way for greater acceptance for bitcoins among the thousands of pizza stores across the United States, and convince more brick-and-mortar shops to start accepting bitcoins as payment. So far, the virtual currency has been more accepted among online games and digital stores, which is understandable given that physical shops will need to upgrade their systems in order to accept bitcoins.

The founders revealed that Pizza Hut and Papa Johns could be coming soon and join Domino’s Pizza to become a trio of shops that accept bits for pizza.

Disadvantages
While the thought of paying for pizza with bitcoins seems cool, it comes with costs. PizzaForCoins.com charges a 0.09 Bitcoins fee to all orders, which amounts to roughly $2 based on the latest Bitcoins-to-US dollar exchange rates listed at Mt. Gox.

PizzaForCoins.com also sets its exchange rate at approximately $0.50 Cents less than the current Mt.Gox Rate, which means users will also get less for bang for their Bitcoins.

“The reason for this is that with rapid fluctuation of rates and occasional drops, we do not want to be left holding a worthless bag if the rate drops for some reason. We update prices on a daily basis to reflect this 50Cent rule,” said the founders.

“Eventually, our plan is to make it cheaper to order with bitcoins than with any other currency,” they added.

Another disadvantage for PizzaForCoins.com is its limited pizza menu compared to the actual restaurant menu.

Last but not the least, pizza orders can take a while. The Web site said that the total time from placing orders to receiving food can vary but typically is anywhere from 35-80 minutes. Add to this the time it takes to fill out the order form