By the end of 2018 between two and three dozen Launceston businesses will be accepting bitcoin as a payment option, according to one local expert.
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Get Paid in Bitcoin founder Adam Poulton has begun fielding enquiries from a number of businesses wanting to convert their payments systems to accept cryptocurrencies, such as bictoin, ethereum and litecoin.
He said the option was attractive to some businesses as a way to save money on credit card networks, while others were simply cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
One of the first businesses to accept digital currencies was East Launceston coffee shop Maple.
“We had a few cryptocurrency meetings [among the crypto community] at Maple,” Mr Poulton said.
“After the first meetup we suggested the owner Tom could accept cryptocurrency at his shop – we set it all up for him and he was ready for the next meetup.
“We’ve been approached by a few other businesses already.”
The program Maple uses to accept cryptocurrencies is called TravelbyBit, with customers needing a wallet with the company to pay by bitcoin.
“TravelbyBit accepts the payment instantly, and if something does happen and [there is an error] they would cover that,” Mr Poulton said.
Mr Poulton suggested Launceston would become an attractive place for international businesses if cryptocurrencies were embedded in the local economy.
“For international clients to be able to pay the bill without the fees is really convenient,” he said.
While some financial experts label bitcoin’s slow transaction times as a major drawback, Mr Poulton said transaction times were less of a concern for smaller retail purchases.
Confirmation times can vary, depending on how many “confirmations” are required, he said.
One confirmation takes about ten minutes.
“If you’re waiting for $1 million, you would definitely wait for five or six confirmations,” Mr Poulton said.
“For a cup of coffee the risk is a lot less, so you might be fine with one confirmation.”
The price of one bitcoin on Wednesday was $11,855.