Bitcoin Forum

A lot of people look at the price of a bitcoin as a measure of it's success. While that is one metric that can tell you something about it's perceived value, it is not the most important one. Adoption is what I look at. Who is using bitcoin, and what new use cases are evolving? Below is a case in point.

I have just returned from some time in the middle east. I always try to meet with fellow bitcoin peers when I travel. I saw a number of stores accepting bitcoin in Israel, but only found one tea shop in Amman Jordan. Assuming that it had not caught on in Jordan, I didn't really look harder.


http://i58.tinypic.com/fa7luq.jpg

The Arab guy with me in the picture is Khalid. I rented some camels from him in Wadi Rum when I was doing some desert trekking. He was a an interesting guy who had taught himself about computers. When I (inevitably) brought up the subject of bitcoin, I about fell off my camel. He responded with "Yeah, I know what they are, I use them myself". Turns out he has bitcoins and was pursuing a payment processor so that he can start accepting them for his guide services!

Since he deals with visitors from around the world it is easier for him to take BTC than other currencies. He spends them online to buy things that are hard to get in Jordan, things like digital cameras and Japanese electronics. He also liked not paying 3% to the credit card companies. He needed nothing more than a bank account and a smartphone to run the money side of his business in the middle of the desert.

This is why I think bitcoin's growth is just beginning.  It is getting easier for me to find places that take BTC all the time. That penetration is now reaching out beyond cities and tech savvy circles.

If you find yourself in beautiful Jordan, I highly recommend his camp in Wadi Rum. He offers a place to stay with great food, jeep, horse, or camel treks. I chose him without any bitcoin connection, but knowing he will take them in payment is the icing on the cake. 

Except for those, who think bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme, its FIAT value is not important to others.

Great story. If he has a smartphone looks as though he's all set up to process payments!

brilliant!
love it  ;)

True that!


Yep. Although for his business he want's to work with a processor like BitPay. He has a lot of people depending on him and it's hard for a business to face the price volatility, something he did not mind for his personal stash. 


I loved it too.  :D

Personally, I love how this phrase is in here and completely in context :D

Same, what a great story!   ;D

hey newindea salong
i dont see anything wrong with get rich quick scheme. Id rather do that.
you can work another 50 years

Great story.

Thanks for that bro.

That's really cool and strange at the same time. I wonder how much of that regional success is attributable to Meni Rosenfeld? He's been a big supporter of Bitcoin in Israel from the beginning. Did you look him up when you were there?

This is great!

Great! But really strange :)

Good story and nice photo!  I hope you are right, price goes up and down, but adoption is more of a one way street, few vendors have stopped taking bitcoin once they start.

Note sadly that few people can copy him in Jordan. You need to deal with foreigners to get BTC, and the only way to spend them is through international mail order companies. Actually, he doesn't even need a bank account, and that the best part as that makes his business totally private, without any tax to pay to anyone. If I were him though, I wouldn't trust a smartphone in the desert, where connections might not be reliable, and I would wait to get home to use a standard cable Internet connection, but that's great news anyway. Surprising, too!

Really cool story.!! I didnt expect ppl in Jordan to know much abt BTC..! the signs r good.!Ill surely check it out if I go to Jordan sometime soon.! :)

That's encouraging, and I always think that Bitcoin is neat.

Well yes, BTC continue to grow, also in Jordan starting with one tea shop

Fresh great story...

More and more people get involved with Bitcoin. :)

Yes, I know this from my own experience.
Many of my friends started with bitcoin last or this year.
Of course, we need more businesses to accept bitcoin as way of payment, so that people can spend their bitcoin for digital products.

Yes, the price is not the only thing.

What a brilliant incident. The thing to learn from this ask the people you know and meet everyday if they know about Bitcoin. You might get surprised if their answer is yes but if they don't you can explain to them a little right there.

Thanks to all for the positive messages! If any of you are considering a trip to Jordan give him a ring and he will hook you up. Below is a link to his website, which details some of his services. You can also order off the menu and create your own trip.

If you do go, here is what I learned about travel in Jordan specifically. 
Do: Rent a car to get around. Driving is fairly easy everywhere except Amman, which is horrible.
Don't: get the GPS for your car. It was utterly useless and actually only makes it more confusing.
Do: see Petra and Wadi Rum. If you can ride a horse you may want to go by horseback rather than camel. I have ridden horses since childhood but this was my first time by camel. After 8 hours the first day my butt was crying. I guess I should have known better, a horse looks like it has a seat on top, a camel has a hump.  :(
Don't: think about a luxury tour. The Saudi princes have their vacation spots in Jordan and they pay dearly for it. Better to slum it, in my opinion. That means not flushing toilet paper and not expecting everything to work. The country has had spurts of growth and the infrastructure has not always kept up.

http://www.wadi-rum.com/

I've ridden very sporadically, seems to me that should you not do it regularly, your butt is going to be numb after 3 or 4 hours whether it's a horse, a camel, or an elephant.

Really a great story!! i think by inspiration from this story more and more people have to get started using bitcoin.