Bitcoin Forum

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At Wednesday May 28th (the day before Ascension Day) the mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin takes another step forward: Arnhem Bitcoincity!

Bitcoin owners, users, fans, and anyone interested: come and visit Arnhem at May 28th for this special occasion, have some food and drinks in various restaurants and bars, and pay with Bitcoin!

15 local bars, grand cafés, and restaurants (so far, more still to join) in Arnhem center will be accepting Bitcoin payments. For more info and a map of places where you can spend your bitcoins, see:

www.ArnhemBitcoinstad.nl (http://www.ArnhemBitcoinstad.nl/) (in Dutch, English and German)

How to get there: Arnhem is 1 hour by train from Amsterdam, or 30 mins from Utrecht, and close to the German border. Everything is near Arnhem Central Station, and there's a large parking garage at central station.

Fun facts:

• Some restaurant owners already announced they'll be putting some special dishes on their menu for this day (e.g. Miner's Menu, Bitcoin Bowl, etc).
• A Bitcoin ATM is being installed specially for this day, in order to reload your wallet at the spot.
• There will also be a fun contest, where the person who paid with his or her wallet at the most different places, will receive a nice prize (probably some amount of bitcoins, some merchandise, or who knows, maybe a coupon for a space trip with Virgin Galactic ;))

This will make Arnhem one of the bigger cities in terms of Bitcoin acceptance, and we hope this will contribute to Bitcoin going mainstream.

BTCe there, or be $quare!

Tomorrow (well, technically "today" as it's 0:30 here) Arnhem Bitcoinstad takes off!

All Bitcoin enthusiasts, if you have a chance to visit Arnhem tomorrow during daytime and/or the evening, it would be awesome if you can have lunch, diner, and some drinks in some of the 15 participating businesses!

Keep track of @Bitcoinstad (https://twitter.com/BitcoinStad) at twitter for live updates throughout the day and evening, and www.ArnhemBitcoinstad.nl (http://www.ArnhemBitcoinstad.nl/) for all info and a list and map of cafés and restaurants accepting Bitcoin.

For example, if you enjoy excellent Indian food, this is the place to be:
https://www.facebook.com/kohinoorarnhem/photos/a.278070738970022.59552.224703504306746/537091939734566/?type=1

And for a lunch, we recommend visiting Mo Lón: (we know the place, they got excellent sandwiches)
http://molon.nl/index.php/molon-laatste-nieuws (it's in Dutch, but the gist of it is: 10% discount if you pay in BTC :))

Let's all make this a great step forward in Bitcoin going mainstream. We need you. See y'all tomorrow :)

How does paying with Bitcoin work? Do I swipe a card that has my wallet address on it? Need details.

Are these restaurants etc. holding the bitcoins they receive, at least partially? Or will they exchange them to USD or use BitPay/similar payment processor? Would be great if more 'Bitcoin accepters' also used the 'store of value' -aspect of Bitcoin.

Anyway, the project seems great and looks like a lot of fun will be happening there. Good luck!

All businesses accepting Bitcoin in Arnhem use a point of sale system (BitKassa (https://www.BitKassa.nl/)) that allows them to easily accept bitcoins, without having to deal with any technicalities or security issues whatsoever. Completely hassle free.
 
As a paying customer, you'll need a mobile wallet that can scan QR codes. The Android Wallet (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet) by Andres Schildbach or Mycelium (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mycelium.wallet&hl=en) Wallet are both excellent choices.
 
Apple has been banning Bitcoin Wallet apps lately (shame on them, blocking innovation like this >:() so on iOS you'll have to stick with mobile-friendly web wallets like Coinpunk (https://coinpunk.com/) or Pheeva (http://pheeva.com/). On Windows Phone, the Bitcoin App (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/bitcoin/ca65fc5b-14f0-4da4-8e39-e2d4b702b2ea) (which internally uses a coinbase or blockchain.info wallet) seems to do a decent job.
 
 

Not yet, they're currently receiving their Bitcoin payments in Euros. Of course we'd rather see everyone not just accepting but also keeping and spending bitcoins, but this is a necessary step in the migration phase that we're still in. Going straight into Bitcoin is still a bridge too far for many people, and we hope this is a great way to help the mass audience adopting Bitcoin one step at a time.
 
By the way, as for spending bitcoins, versus the objection that some people have who rather keep their bitcoins and spend their fiat: we always recommend the 'double stimulus' approach. Pay anything you can with Bitcoin, and buy back a similar amount of bitcoins with fiat. This way you stimulate the Bitcoin economy (by actually spending coins, and paying for goods and services with Bitcoin) AND you stimulate the demand for Bitcoin (by buying them on an exchange or trading platform). Win-win!