BitPay has closed a deal with JM Bullion, one of the major online retailers of gold and silver. The digital currency bitcoin has been added to the payment options for purchases at the checkout.

Customers can pay from any wallet and without the need to leave the website. Those who chose to pay in bitcoin will get an advantage of higher payment limits than credit card users (up to $10,000) and the order minimum of $100 which is lower than purchasing via bank transfers.

Buying precious metals with the virtual currency has been popular with the BitPay users, as the infographic in the provider's blog displays. By 2014, the total of $24.5 mln in bitcoin equivalent has been spent in this sector of the industry.

Dallas-based JM Bullion sells physical bullion including gold, silver, copper and platinum products, and ships them throughout the US. The bars, rounds, and coins vary by brand, condition and the year of manufacturing. Bitcoin has been added to other four payment methods: PayPal, credit and debit cards, paper checks and bank transfers. Bitcoin payments may take up to two hours to be received. All bitcoin payments are converted to dollars but refunds will be made in bitcoin according to the exchange rate at the time of the transaction.

The bitcoin currency has been often compared to gold and other precious metals. Last month, silver physical coins to store amounts of 0.01 BTC each have been introduced by Infinitum.

Sonya Belova