Greeks run towards Bitcoin as Banks Shut Down
The banks have closed their doors on the Grecians as its fate is still stuck in a limbo. Following the potential ‘Grexit’, people are now looking frantically at digital currencies if it is better than Euro.
The largest Bitcoin exchange has noticed surge in their business following the Greek situation with EU.
Greeks registering from Virtual Currency
As per the reports, more than ten times as many Greeks have been seen registering for Bitcoins on Bitcoin.de, German market place for virtual currency. There has been an increase of 79% in bitcoin business since the situation in Greece became sticky.
Even LakeBTC, headquartered in Shanghai has seen a 40% increase in the number of visitors that are from Greece.
Even trading platforms in China are getting interest. LakeBTC, headquartered in Shanghai, is seeing a 40% increase in visitors using computers in Greece.
Greeks enquiring about Bitcoin’s legitimacy
The Polish exchange, Bitcurex, was bombarded by emails from worried Grecians who wanted to know if they will be to spend Bitcoins in EU, if it is legal or if Bitcoin has an ATM in Greece.
Since then, Bitycurex has been marketing on their website making Bitcoin trading free up tp 3 months for Greeks. Bitcoins are allowed to be spent legitimately in Europe and a Bitcoin wallet can become a bank account that can be accessed from anywhere.
The Challenges along the way
While it all seems in control until now, don’t forget that bitcoins are hard to acquire. There is only BItcoin ATM in all of Greece and that too in a Bookstore in Athens. If you want to buy bitcoins, you would have to send a wire transfer but since the banks are closed, it is another dead end.
However, assessing the situation, German Bitcoin exchange, Bitcoin.de has been able to sell some virtual currency to the Greeks as there are still some who have access to the online banking. LakeBTC of Shanghai is making it easier to buy bitcoins by allowing people to transact using PayPal or even pay using cash.
The biggest challenge, however, is that there are not many ways to spend Bitcoins in Greece. In Athens, there are only a handful of places that accept digital currency as payments.
SO far, it can be very difficult to live on Bitcoin entirely even if you live in high tech city of New York.
Get more updates on ATM locations by clicking Bitcoin ATM Locations. Click here to access the Bitcoin directory.
