Fearing Return to Drachma, Some Greeks Use Bitcoin to Dodge Capital Controlshttp://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/fearing-return-to-drachma-some-greeks-use-bitcoin-to-dodge-capital-controls-711464There is at least one legal way to get your euros out of Greece these days, to guard against the prospect that they might be devalued into drachmas: convert them into Bitcoin.
Although absolute figures are hard to come by, Greek interest has surged in the online "cryptocurrency", which is out of the reach of monetary authorities and can be transferred at the touch of a smartphone screen.
New customers depositing at least 50 euros with BTCGreece, the only Greece-based Bitcoin exchange, open only to Greeks, rose by 400 percent between May and June, according to its founder Thanos Marinos, who put the number at "a few thousand". The average deposit quadrupled to around 700 euros.
Using Bitcoin could allow Greeks to do one of the things that capital controls were put in place this week to prevent: transfer money out of their bank accounts and, if they wish, out of the country.
