From Queensland International Airport to the northern parts of the state, this area of Australia is leading the rush in utilizing cryptocurrency as the way to pay, replacing more conventional card usage and the necessity to carry cash.
As covered by Bitcoin News last month and earlier this week in a televized BBC One piece on English TV, a microcosm of Queenslander’s changing crypto face has become the busy beachside tourist town of Agnes Water which has rightly laid claim to being the country’s first digital currency-friendly town.
With more than 30 businesses now taking Bitcoin as payment around the area including guest houses, hotels, restaurants, taxis, stores, and most retailers, payment is just a QR code away from an instant transaction. Now the region of North Queensland now boasts over 100 outlets for Bitcoin payments. As TravelbyBit’s CEO Caleb Yeoh observed regarding the new phenomenon:
“If you travel around the world you have to deal with multiple currencies, the exchange rate can be confusing, sometimes you struggle to find ATMs, and sometimes you get swindled by money changers… Travelling with one global currency like Bitcoin… makes sense.”
The move towards accepting Bitcoin for fast cardless payments is not only gaining traction as it moves its way around Northern Queensland. In some areas, cryptocurrency is now becoming the preferred method of payment along with Bitcoin Cash, and in some case its the only way to pay, putting credit and debit cards under pressure.
As one Reddit user observed, “Many merchants in North Queensland are choosing to accept only Bitcoin Cash, these merchants are well informed and well organized, why are they choosing to concentrate on Bitcoin Cash for their electronic commerce needs.”
Users in Northern Queensland often have numerous crypto methods of payment at their disposal including, NEM (XEM), Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum (ETH) which doesn’t simply limit them to a choice of one currency. Freedom of choice seems to be the requirement of most users when it comes to preferred methods of QR payment, many having multiple currency wallets accessed through their phones.
In July, a senior representative of Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) predicted that there would be little likelihood of Bitcoin being widely adopted in Australia in the future due to its price volatility compared to the stability of the Australian dollar.
A trip to Northern Queensland may offer the RBA rep a picture of the future, particularly if the movement spreads across the states at its current pace. Currently, for many in the area, the only way to pay is in crypto.
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