A pharmatech firm, Goobat Sdn Bhd has become Malaysia’s first online pharmacy to accept the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin as payment on its local e-commerce store Goobat.care.

Bitcoin, which was created by an anonymous individual named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 is a form of decentralized digital currency. 

The nature of transactions involved with Bitcoin which doesn’t require middle men, is growing in popularity in the e-commerce world. 

According to the founder of bitcoin guide, Ofir Beigel, Bitcoin is gradually infiltrating e-commerce because it’s seen as a viable, innovative and somewhat ‘sexy’ solution.

“Numerous central banks have been reported to begin exploring and adopting these cryptocurrencies,” said Co-founder of Goobat, Asher Looi. “As part of the retail industry, we feel it is important and timely to educate the public that Bitcoin transactions are safe, and that users will still have full control of their money in their wallets.”

Bitcoin transactions on Goobat.Care webstore will go through the Bitpay gateway – United States-based crypto clearing gateway that is the world’s largest provider of blockchain payment services.

Looi also said that the push factor in establishing the online store stemmed from the realisation that many pharmacies in suburban areas did not carry a full range of products. This combined with a lack of economy of scale, causes these outlets to retail products at steeper prices. 

“When we set up Goobat.Care, we wanted to ensure that we could help suburban consumers find what they need. So now we have more than 3,000 products online to offer, at affordable prices,” Looi said. “We integrate Big Data concept into the core of all touchpoints and our end goal is to build an artificial intelligence (A.I.) model in the future to serve our clients better.”