A Texas-based gun company has announced that it is now allowing its customers to use bitcoins as payment for its products, which include rifles that it says can hit targets at extreme distances using “jet fighter lock-and-launch technology.”
Although bitcoin is a currency that is notorious for being difficult to trace, buyers still have to undergo background checks before purchasing any firearms, according to TrackingPoint Vice President Oren Schauble. The Austin company is working with payment processor Coinvoice to carry out bitcoin transactions.
"The recent advent and success of cryptocurrency has the potential to redefine our monetary system," TrackingPoint CEO John Lupher said in a press release.
The rifles are priced beginning at $9,995, which would cost around 22 bitcoins, based off the current exchange rate.
The company says its rifles – which can hit objects 1,000 yards away – tag targets with laser dots and then “calculates an exact firing solution factoring in range, wind, target velocity, shot angle, rifle cant, temperature, barometric pressure and other factors.”
Schauble told Ars Technica that the company is also looking into the possibility of creating a price guarantee to potentially compensate customers who buy rifles during unfavorable fluctuations in the bitcoin exchange rate.
Besides TrackingPoint, another Austin-based gun shop, Central Texas Gun Works, has been accepting bitcoins as payment.
Michael Cargill, the store’s owner, told CNN Money that customers at his store also have to go through background checks before being allowed to purchase firearms, but he has made 20 bitcoin transactions this year alone.