Just bought some beer for bitcoin in my local pub in Cambridge (UK)

[e4xit]

Beer for bitcoins. Now I feel as if we are really getting somewhere

For those interested, custom written till software brings up a fullscreen QR code, which you can scan from behind the bar. There was also the option to have the QR printed out I think if I had wanted. TX was accepted by the merchant instantly in the zero confirmation state which took approx 5-10 secs to register on the till.

All-in-all, very easy indeed. Just went loaded with 1BTC in a "hot-wallet" on blockchain.info app.

[CoinEntropy]

BTC technology in a classic pub, awesome

[Eastwind]

That is just a start.

[bitcoinchecker]

Another pub which is part of the same group -The Pembury Tavern in Hackney - is the venue for our next London meet-up on june 23rd.

see here ...  http://www.meetup.com/London-bitcoin-meetup/events/122553592/

[e4xit]

Thats a good location for a meet! There is also another pub in cambridge (run by the same owners as this one) on the other side of the town, who are also accepting bitcoin for beer 

I feel like this was a very easy change for these guys to make, with one pre-requisite; the till software did it for them (and one of the owners programmed the till software himself I think). There was no special/new equipment required, it just made use of a (presumably) pre-existing internet connection and displayed a full-screen QR code. I scanned, checked the amount, and hit send on my iPhone. Seconds later they cleared the payment.

Perhaps the next step the bitcoin community should be investigating, is getting easy to use changes like this,implemented in "standard" till software(s) (or at least tills which have a capable screen). This way, loads of vendors might start to be able to accept bitcoin without even knowing much about it.
The software could require registration, which might really be dual registration with the till software and bitpay, then you nominate a bank account you want bitcoin payments to be sent to in fiat currency of your choice. With very few steps, and no new equipment, you can now easily accept bitcoin payments, and still (choose to) recieve fiat currency of your choice.

Im sure it won't just be this easy though...

[bitcoinchecker]

Thats a good location for a meet! There is also another pub in cambridge (run by the same owners as this one) on the other side of the town, who are also accepting bitcoin for beer 

I feel like this was a very easy change for these guys to make, with one pre-requisite; the till software did it for them (and one of the owners programmed the till software himself I think). There was no special/new equipment required, it just made use of a (presumably) pre-existing internet connection and displayed a full-screen QR code. I scanned, checked the amount, and hit send on my iPhone. Seconds later they cleared the payment.

Perhaps the next step the bitcoin community should be investigating, is getting easy to use changes like this,implemented in "standard" till software(s) (or at least tills which have a capable screen). This way, loads of vendors might start to be able to accept bitcoin without even knowing much about it.
The software could require registration, which might really be dual registration with the till software and bitpay, then you nominate a bank account you want bitcoin payments to be sent to in fiat currency of your choice. With very few steps, and no new equipment, you can now easily accept bitcoin payments, and still (choose to) recieve fiat currency of your choice.

Im sure it won't just be this easy though...

That's interesting, but I have a few questions ...

So they don't use BitPay or a similar service then?

Do they manually adjust prices as Bitcoin prices change?

And how do they "cash out" to pay their suppliers?


As for the London meet-up, why don't you come along. You're not far away.

[e4xit]

Oh sorry, I seem to have not made myself clear. The pub I went to I believe were using bitpay, although it was all integrated behind the scenes. All the barman had to do was press one button (pay by bitcoin) and the usual payment screen changed to a full screen QR. Then, when I saw the payment go on my device, I gave him a heads up, and he checked the till and saw the braoadcast tx.

The price was changing dynamically, although the software coder was not there at the time, so I'm not sure which price he was using, although it was surely a slightly averaged price of some sort.

Edit: See this comment for full info in how the tx works in their system: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=230961.msg2429942#msg2429942

I think that takes care of all of your questions

I would acutally be tempted to come down for that, but unfortunately I am in Germany on that day. Sure you guys will have fun though.

[bitcoinchecker]

Oh sorry, I seem to have not made myself clear. The pub I went to I believe were using bitpay, although it was all integrated behind the scenes. All the barman had to do was press one button (pay by bitcoin) and the usual payment screen changed to a full screen QR. Then, when I saw the payment go on my device, I gave him a heads up, and he checked the till and saw the braoadcast tx.

The price was changing dynamically, although the software coder was not there at the time, so I'm not sure which price he was using, although it was surely a slightly averaged price of some sort.

I think that takes care of all of your questions

I would acutally be tempted to come down for that, but unfortunately I am in Germany on that day. Sure you guys will have fun though.

Sorted.


have fun in Germany and look out for the next meet. The more the merrier.

[Caesium]

More details on how their bitcoin acceptance works, quite interesting:

http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/bitcoin.html

[e4xit]

Oh cool, thanks for that!

Those are all the questions I wanted to ask the barman, but he didn't know much about it (and actually thought the idea of bitcoins was kind of silly in general)...

I will edit my above posts to point down to your comment.

[bitcoinchecker]

Nice one.


Good post from caesium as well.

[BitAddict]

This is great! I can't wait to have this in Spain   

[runam0k]

Awesome.  And great info as to how they go about accepting bitcoin:

More details on how their bitcoin acceptance works, quite interesting:

http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/bitcoin.html

This bit is interesting:

The reason we only offer 92% of the current 7-day weighted price is that there are fees associated with converting Bitcoin back into Sterling. When we used OKpay the fees amounted to about 7%. We are currently looking for a new route to convert BTC to Sterling; until we find one it seems prudent to expect to have to pay a fairly high percentage fee.

Surely a great opportunity for someone to exchange bitcoins for cash.  A local trader offering a service akin to localbitcoins.com but aimed squarely at businesses in his or area that accept bitcoins.  Commit (contractually) to buying all the bitcoins a business takes each day or week at a rate determined by ref to the then current MtGox rate.

If someone really wanted to take the initiative, they'd make this part of a service that encourages other business owners to accept bitcoin.  Till/payment management software is the tricky bit, but obviously very doable.

EDIT:  Having read further, it looks like Steve provides the service himself:

Once a sufficient number of Bitcoins have been accumulated in reconciled transactions, Steve uses an external service to convert them to Sterling. If the amount received in Sterling is greater than the amount paid to the pub company, Steve records a profit. If it is lower, Steve records a loss. At the end of the tax year, Steve will pay tax in Sterling based on the total profit or loss in the year.

[franky1]

Awesome.  And great info as to how they go about accepting bitcoin:

More details on how their bitcoin acceptance works, quite interesting:

http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/bitcoin.html

This bit is interesting:

The reason we only offer 92% of the current 7-day weighted price is that there are fees associated with converting Bitcoin back into Sterling. When we used OKpay the fees amounted to about 7%. We are currently looking for a new route to convert BTC to Sterling; until we find one it seems prudent to expect to have to pay a fairly high percentage fee.

Surely a great opportunity for someone to exchange bitcoins for cash.  A local trader offering a service akin to localbitcoins.com but aimed squarely at businesses in his or area that accept bitcoins.  Commit (contractually) to buying all the bitcoins a business takes each day or week at a rate determined by ref to the then current MtGox rate.

If someone really wanted to take the initiative, they'd make this part of a service that encourages other business owners to accept bitcoin.  Till/payment management software is the tricky bit, but obviously very doable.

EDIT:  Having read further, it looks like Steve provides the service himself:

Once a sufficient number of Bitcoins have been accumulated in reconciled transactions, Steve uses an external service to convert them to Sterling. If the amount received in Sterling is greater than the amount paid to the pub company, Steve records a profit. If it is lower, Steve records a loss. At the end of the tax year, Steve will pay tax in Sterling based on the total profit or loss in the year.

no offence but letting the pub make a few extra % profit by accepting bitcoin should be allowed right now as their convenience fee. once more pubs start spouting up and its a mainstream thing, then some price accuracies will come into play.

[runam0k]

no offence but letting the pub make a few extra % profit by accepting bitcoin should be allowed right now as their convenience fee. once more pubs start spouting up and its a mainstream thing, then some price accuracies will come into play.

None taken.  I wasn't referring to the fee as much as the apparent difficulty of swapping bitcoins for cash ("We are currently looking for a new route... ") - a good opportunity for bitcoin traders to snag coins at a reasonable price and its likely an issue that all bitcoin accepting businesses will face.

Having a buyer - either a reliable local trader who commits to buying, or a "webuybitcoins.com" - would go some way to remove the risks for businesses.

Maybe individualpubs just needs to set up a localbitcoins.com account.

[tarmi]

awesome!!!!

[nameface]

I love a good conversation in a pub. Pubs should be a worldwide Bitcoin niche!

[franky1]

no offence but letting the pub make a few extra % profit by accepting bitcoin should be allowed right now as their convenience fee. once more pubs start spouting up and its a mainstream thing, then some price accuracies will come into play.

None taken.  I wasn't referring to the fee as much as the apparent difficulty of swapping bitcoins for cash ("We are currently looking for a new route... ") - a good opportunity for bitcoin traders to snag coins at a reasonable price and its likely an issue that all bitcoin accepting businesses will face.

Having a buyer - either a reliable local trader who commits to buying, or a "webuybitcoins.com" - would go some way to remove the risks for businesses.

Maybe individualpubs just needs to set up a localbitcoins.com account.

with free "fastpayment" services which UK banks offer. bitcoin is not really as big of a positive thing VS US banks which cost fee's and takes days to move cash. so the UK is slower on the uptake as their is less 'need' for an alternative here. but once alot more mainstreaming happens we will see professionals with proper finance experience and willing to pay the FSA fee's start to form in the UK.

but right now using a bank for free account to account transfer of cash, vs bitpay 1% fee is not a good business plan for starting a UK bitpay.

however having a few very reputable people on Bitcoin-otc-uk who will happily be on every evening between 11pm-3pm each night to transfer bitcoin to UK pound is something to look into.

just remember if each person sticks to a £850 per customer daily limit, that does not breach the FSA limts to then require regulation and all the AMLKYC stuff as thats classed as personal transfer amounts, not business (best to double check this with FSA first though)

[bitbitcoins]

excellent

[doom309]

thats great stuff, hope it catches on