Leading Russian online retailer Ulmart announced that it will start accepting bitcoin as a payment from 1 September, 2017.

The decision comes as blockchain has arguably become even more important than the currency that it has created. Selling around 150,000 SKU in its ‘first-party seller’ format, Ulmart is slowly building out its online inventory, with the launch of marketplace. Also, an additional of one million items could be on offer from ‘third-party sellers’, by the end of the year.

"Ulmart started closely monitoring the market and regulatory environment for the use of crypto-currency in Russia as early as March 2014. As the blockchain technology is coming into our operations to fight counterfeit items, we see that the mystery that existed around the bitcoin three years ago has significantly receded," Dmitry Kostygin, the Chairman and majority shareholder of Ulmart, explained.

The announcement said that the company has not yet decides as to which products will be available for purchase by the bitcoin and it expects that the higher-priced ones will be targeted first. It is anticipated that items such as used cars and apartments, which may soon be sold via the marketplace, will be well positioned for purchase by the bitcoin.

“Tomorrow is today in the world of blockchain and as a leader Ulmart strives to be ahead of the market. We welcome the willingness that the Russian government has demonstrated with regards to the review of the bitcoin technology and look forward to cooperating with it in this area. Ulmart believes such initiatives as bitcoin can be part of the efforts to develop 'smart' economy and cities and will aim to play a major role in this process,” Brian Kean, Chief International Officer of Ulmart, commented.