Budapest Taxi has partnered with CoinPay to create additional payment option for taxi services.
Bitcoin is a good alternative to paper money. However paying for everyday goods and services with the cryptocurrency has been a big struggle so far. Few companies offered such payment option. Once we told you about an interesting experiment made by Beccy and Austin Craig who decided to pay for all their needs in bitcoin for the whole period of 100 days.
The couple traveled around the world and didn’t use cash at all. The only condition for the trip was making all deals using bitcoin. All difficulties and victories were filmed. The trailer of the movie called “Life on Bitcoin” can be found on the official site.
The Craigs admitted that the experiment wasn’t an easy one. They faced constant necessity to persuade people accept payments in bitcoin.
Now the situation with using bitcoin as a payment tool starts to change. Soon you will be able to use bitcoin for taxi rides while in Budapest. Thus Hungary becomes more attractive for bitcoin enthusiasts. Customers will get an opportunity to pay via their mobile phones from February. The payer will need to scan the QR code provided by the recipient and the payment will be settled instantly.
To make the service possible, Budapest Taxi partnered with CoinPay, one of the leading Bitcoin payment processors in Hungary. CoinPay aims at bringing the digital currency ecosystem to businesses. The collaboration serves as a good example of how local companies can unite to contribute to bitcoin promotion in the region.
There is one more reason why Hungarian companies started supporting bitcoin. CoinPay deputy CEO András Lövy states that there is close to HUF 8bn in Bitcoin in circulation. To put this into more international numbers, one Hungarian Forint is worth 0.0036 USD. Thus it turns out that Hungarian citizens and companies hold over US$29m worth of Bitcoin. Even though this is only equal to 0.005% of Bitcoin’s entire market cap, it is still a significant number.
Uber, a multinational mobile ride hail company, also added payments in bitcoin at the end of 2015. This was made possible with Coinbase’s Shift Card that allows spending bitcoins like regular debit or credit. It costs $10 to receive, with fees similar to a regular debit card. Coinbase’s fee schedule can be found here.
Bitcoin and Uber are both decentralized. However, Uber expands to more cities despite its occasional issues with its drivers and cities. And bitcoin is becoming mainstream step by step despite governments insisting on regulating the currency.
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