From today Australians will be able to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum in-store from more than 1,200 newsagents around the country.
With a minimum purchase of $50, all customers need to purchase the digital currency is cash, a phone number and an email address.
The service is being provided by cryptocurrency exchange bitcoin.com.au, which has been rolling out in-store Bitcoin buying infrastructure since the middle of 2016.
Bitcoin.com.au CEO Rupert Hackett said the primary challenge of selling cryptocurrency within a physical retail store was gaining the trust of consumers.
“When your product is totally digital it can be hard to gain trust from consumers because there’s no tangible product being handed over,” Hackett told 9Finance.
“Using newsagents provides consumers with a convenient and trusted way for investors to buy cryptocurrency.”
Hackett said the exchange added Ethereum to its in-store offering because the price of Bitcoin made entry to the cryptocurrency market daunting for some.
“Traditionally, the only people who knew about Ethereum or wanted to buy it were those who already had bought Bitcoin,” said Hackett.
“But now that cryptocurrency is more well-known we found that Ethereum’s cheaper price point made it a more digestible value proposition for buyers.”
To purchase the cryptocurrency, buyers would first need to download a digital wallet, which can be on your phone, a slightly more secure wallet on your desktop, or the most secure “cold-storage” wallet set up at home.
Once a user has a wallet they then scan a QR code using an iPad mini at the newsagent, and complete the transaction from there. Hackett says on average most users will have the cryptocurrency in their wallet within 20 minutes.
Bitcoin.com.au has waved the transaction fee for purchases made on March 1. For all other purchases made after this date each transaction will carry a fee of 5 percent.
“The fact that you can now buy Bitcoin and Ethereum from the same place you purchase soft drinks and stationery really speaks to how institutionalised cryptocurrency has become,” said Hackett.
“For anyone who has hesitated about buying Bitcoin because it all seemed too complicated, this is the perfect setup that takes the fear factor out of investing in digital currencies.”
Source: finance.nine.com.au
