A BURY business has become the world's first dental marketing agency to accept the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as payment.

The Creative Composite, which provides services in areas including social media, advertising and website design, decided to offer a Bitcoin payment method after seeing a surge in dental professionals investing in and a number of other retailers, including Subway, accepting the cryptocurrency.

Creative director at the company, Hassan Mushaid, said he and his team wanted the ability to offer the payment method to clients who have invested in Bitcoin and may want a service where they can use a currency which fits all their business needs.

Mr Mushaid, who attended Broad Oak school before moving into the dentistry sector, said: "Most of my clients invest in various areas and Bitcoin saw a huge rise over the last few months.

"We wanted to give them the freedom to use their investment with us and reap the investment rewards by reinvesting into their bread and butter business, their dental practice."

Using Bitcoin merchant provider BitPay, The Creative Composite carry out an approximately two week process to check company history and ensure all payments are made safely and to a reputable company.

The company has already had significant interest in Bitcoin payment and some of his clients have also now incorporated acceptance of the cryptocurrency into their own websites.

Mr Mushaid said he is optimistic about the future of Bitcoin and a expects a shift to greater use of the currency.

He added: "I think that the trend will move more towards digital currencies and there will be more online stores and retailers accepting the currency, so it makes sense to get ready for it.

"I think it will be here for the long term, there will be ups and downs but it will remain."

Invented by an unknown entity under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was first released in 2009 as the world's first decentralised digital currency.

It operates on a peer-to-peer network, with transactions occurring directly between users, verified by network nodes using cryptography, and being recorded in a blockchain.

An estimated 2.9 to 5.8 million unique user possess so called cryptocurrency wallets, with most using Bitcoin, according to 2017 research from the University of Cambridge.

Worth a modest $12 just five years ago, in December Bitcoin value rose to its highest ever level reaching almost $20,000 each.

Values have since fallen, but some experts have predicted they could skyrocket in 2018, while others have predicted the bubble could burst.