Bitcoin is the fastest-growing asset in the world this year, but the virtual currency does not appear to have many users in London’s tech district. It has been more than a month since bitcoin was used to buy a flat white or craft beer sold at the Old Shoreditch Station, according to the hospitality manager at the east London bar.
Louis Chauvin admits he cannot find the iPad that is used by staff for processing bitcoin payments, as he resumes serving customers queueing to pay with their contactless bank cards. Although the establishment sits in the capital’s buzzing tech hub, and is advertised online as one of the few retailers in London accepting the hipster-cum-computer nerds’ currency, as few as 20 people have asked to pay with it in the two years he has worked there.
Over the same period, the value of a single bitcoin has rocketed from around $300 to more than $11,000 this week. On Friday, the currency was trading at $10,700.
Chauvin says bitcoin’s increasing value – and media coverage – has not escaped customers. More people have come in asking how it works, thinking of using it in their own shop, rather than actually paying with it, he says, adding: “It’s cool, it attracts some people. But for now it’s niche.”
Bitcoin isn't a bubble.Its price has not raised this much high only by speculation.Wall street companies entering the market has triggered bitcoin price.We know that wall street CEOs were the main criticizers of bitcoin earlier like jamie dimon.Now,they have changed their attitude totally and have started to enter the market.We could understand that such big firms would not be ready to invest in just a speculative thing.People have started to think it as a safe haven free from government control.Now,there is no such high return giving asset in the world as bitcoin,the digital gold.
