One of the greatest challenges for bitcoin entrepreneurs is figuring out how to turn the esoteric cryptocurrency into something average consumers will understand. It’s not easy to get grandma excited about blockchains and ledgers, unless grandma is a libertarian who loves the deep web.
But in Taiwan, one entrepreneur is hoping to get ordinary Joes and Janes giddy for bitcoin by making it as easy to buy as a can of Red Bull.
As Cryptocoins News reported earlier this month, Taiwanese bitcoin exchange Bitoex has partnered with Family Mart, the East Asian convenience store chain, to enable bitcoin purchases through the stores’ digital kiosks. In all of Family Mart’s 2,986 outlets in Taiwan, customers can punch in “BTC” on the machines’ “other” category of its banking section, specify the bitcoin value they hope to purchase in New Taiwan Nollars, and then pay for the bitcoin at the counter. Afterwards, customers will receive a text message confirming the purchase, and the bitcoin can be transferred from BitoEx to one’s bitcoin wallet.
Sound complicated? It is. Jason L. Gatewood of Taiwan’s Next Media posted a video to YouTube where he walks through the purchase procedure step-by-step. As you can see, it’s best suited for folks who have already passed Bitcoin 101.
Despite the still-steep learning curve, enabling bitcoin purchases in almost 3,000 convenience stores in Taiwan is nothing to sniff at. For one thing, the island reportedly has the highest number of convenience stores per capita in the world. Spend any time in Taiwan and you’ll notice it – there’s one on nearly every block.
In addition, convenience store chains like 7-11 and Family Mart (mostly the latter, more recently the former), have a lengthy history of driving foot traffic by offering various lifestyle and top-up services. Taiwan residents can head to the nearest C-store to pay bills and taxes, pick up packages, buy train and movie tickets, and even drop off dry cleaning.
The average Taiwan consumer probably won’t rush to the nearest Family Mart to purchase cryptocurrency. But the safe confines of a C-store chain nevertheless make great testing grounds for the bitcoin curious.
Cracking Taiwan bit by bit
Like many bitcoin enthusiasts, Bitoex co-founder Titan Cheng conceived of BitoEx as a bitcoin exchange that was localized for his home market. In order to target consumers and drive adoption, he and his co-founder decided early on to target convenience stores as a point-of-sale due to their heavy concentration across the island. But getting the stores on board wasn’t easy.
“At first, Family Mart thought bitcoin were like points for online games,” Cheng tells Tech in Asia. “When they finally understood what bitcoin actually was, they rejected our proposal, as they thought it might come into conflict with the law. In order to mitigate their suspicions and confirm we were abiding by the law, we did lots of extra work and research and continued to communicate with them.”
BitoEx began formally cooperating with Family Mart in March, around the same time the exchange officially launched in Taiwan. But the company kept its deal with Family Mart quiet and shunned local media, likely in order to avoid too much scrutiny from regulators. In January, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission banned the installation of bitcoin ATMs in Taiwan, and declared that neither banks nor commercial institutions should accept bitcoin. That ban remains in effect, but BitoEx and Family Mart aren’t subject to it because they only facilitate the purchase of bitcoin, not the purchase of goods and services using bitcoin.
Despite the government’s cautious stance towards bitcoin, Cheng remains optimistic towards the cryptocurrency’s adoption in Taiwan. “Taiwan’s bitcoin environment is in the embryonic stage,” he says. “Right now the government views bitcoin as a product, not a currency. But simply put, Taiwan is friendly to entrepreneurship, and the government hasn’t deliberately placed any pressure on Bitcoin entrepreneurs. We sincerely hope to build Taiwan’s Bitcoin environment off of BitoEx, and Asia’s bitcoin environment in Taiwan.”
In addition to Family Mart, Cheng hopes to get Bitoex services into 7-11, which has about 5,000 outlets in Taiwan, along with smaller chains Hi-Life and OK Mart. If bitcoin adoption indeed comes down to convenience, Cheng might have picked the right path.
Editing by Steven Millward; top image via Flickr user synapticism
Now you can buy bitcoin with your Red Bull and chewing gum in 3,000 Taiwanese convenience stores
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