[Announce] Ploutos Bank & Pisti Card Payment Network Cyprus

[cryptocyprus]

We would like to announce that the Bitcoin based bank being launched in Cyprus has now moved away from a concept into reality, we shall be providing the solution to achieving mass adoption of Bitcoin here in Cyprus.

We have put together an overview that gives a much better idea on what we are doing and how we are going to approach the market.

The bank now named Ploutos (Greek God of Wealth) and the card payment network named Pisti (Trust) are set to be launched within the next 6 months. We have established the management team to ensure the business is run in the most efficient manner possible.

I have launched a blog here www.blog.bit-banking.eu in the first post there is a PDF that gives a better overview of everything that we will be doing and how we shall overcome the obstacles we will face in getting the Cypriot people to use our services.

Constructive feedback is appreciated and we already have several hundred merchants willing to accept our payment terminals and a large number of people that are waiting for our branches to open so they can move their funds away from their mattresses and into an account held with Ploutos Bank.

Please remember our target audience is not the existing Bitcoin community but mass adoption with the general public and merchants here in Cyprus.

[domob]

That sounds really great - good luck with finishing the launch!  It is really exciting to see all those businesses come up over the coming months.

[cryptocyprus]

Thank you, just so many pieces to fit into the puzzle but we are making great progress.

[domob]

Will your payment terminals with merchants also allow "ordinary" Bitcoin users to pay with mobile wallets and the like?  From reading your PDF description, it seems not.  I think that would be a great chance to further increase Bitcoin adoption (for instance I could well imagine going to Cyprus on holiday and spending my Bitcoins directly there, although I live in the Euro zone anyway and so wouldn't save exchange fees that way).  But I understand this would probably make the technical implementation much harder, and think it is still a huge step forward if you can actually launch your bank and payment network!

[cryptocyprus]

Will your payment terminals with merchants also allow "ordinary" Bitcoin users to pay with mobile wallets and the like?  From reading your PDF description, it seems not.  I think that would be a great chance to further increase Bitcoin adoption (for instance I could well imagine going to Cyprus on holiday and spending my Bitcoins directly there, although I live in the Euro zone anyway and so wouldn't save exchange fees that way).  But I understand this would probably make the technical implementation much harder, and think it is still a huge step forward if you can actually launch your bank and payment network!

The production of a QR code on the terminal is a possibility and has been added to the list of functionality that we desire.

With regards to spending Bitcoin whilst on holiday we are in talks with the software provider that provides the most widely used platform for online bookings at hotels here in Cyprus (They have 300 clients) So taking the next step to getting them to accept the terminals in the hotels themselves is not too far away.

[domob]

Will your payment terminals with merchants also allow "ordinary" Bitcoin users to pay with mobile wallets and the like?  From reading your PDF description, it seems not.  I think that would be a great chance to further increase Bitcoin adoption (for instance I could well imagine going to Cyprus on holiday and spending my Bitcoins directly there, although I live in the Euro zone anyway and so wouldn't save exchange fees that way).  But I understand this would probably make the technical implementation much harder, and think it is still a huge step forward if you can actually launch your bank and payment network!

The production of a QR code on the terminal is a possibility and has been added to the list of functionality that we desire.

So I can pay not only with your card and an account at Ploutos bank but also with my mobile phone wallet scanning a code?  That sounds really promising!  (And it would be great to have all your accepting merchants on coinmap.org / in OSM marked as accepting Bitcoins then, so as to bring them some more publicity for their involvement.)  Of course, the problem would then be that I don't have internet access on my phone while on holidays because of exorbitant roaming fees, but that's not something related to Bitcoin.

With regards to spending Bitcoin whilst on holiday we are in talks with the software provider that provides the most widely used platform for online bookings at hotels here in Cyprus (They have 300 clients) So taking the next step to getting them to accept the terminals in the hotels themselves is not too far away.

Sounds also great, but paying generally with Bitcoins (at a restaurant for instance) was more what I was thinking about with my question.  If I was from a country without Euros, this would in theory allow me to go on holidays in the future without the need to convert (lots of) money to local currency (Euro in this case).  I think this could be one of the big advantages of Bitcoin in the future.

[cryptocyprus]

Will your payment terminals with merchants also allow "ordinary" Bitcoin users to pay with mobile wallets and the like?  From reading your PDF description, it seems not.  I think that would be a great chance to further increase Bitcoin adoption (for instance I could well imagine going to Cyprus on holiday and spending my Bitcoins directly there, although I live in the Euro zone anyway and so wouldn't save exchange fees that way).  But I understand this would probably make the technical implementation much harder, and think it is still a huge step forward if you can actually launch your bank and payment network!

The production of a QR code on the terminal is a possibility and has been added to the list of functionality that we desire.

So I can pay not only with your card and an account at Ploutos bank but also with my mobile phone wallet scanning a code?  That sounds really promising!  (And it would be great to have all your accepting merchants on coinmap.org / in OSM marked as accepting Bitcoins then, so as to bring them some more publicity for their involvement.)  Of course, the problem would then be that I don't have internet access on my phone while on holidays because of exorbitant roaming fees, but that's not something related to Bitcoin.

With regards to spending Bitcoin whilst on holiday we are in talks with the software provider that provides the most widely used platform for online bookings at hotels here in Cyprus (They have 300 clients) So taking the next step to getting them to accept the terminals in the hotels themselves is not too far away.

Sounds also great, but paying generally with Bitcoins (at a restaurant for instance) was more what I was thinking about with my question.  If I was from a country without Euros, this would in theory allow me to go on holidays in the future without the need to convert (lots of) money to local currency (Euro in this case).  I think this could be one of the big advantages of Bitcoin in the future.

We would get all merchants listed on the existing advertising sites available, hopefully with success it would turn the map in the Cyprus area to one big mass of Bitcoin accepting merchants.
With regards to roaming we will be offering prepaid cards that you can load with Bitcoin using the existing clients, this will help navigate the issue of extortionate roaming charges whilst on your holidays.

With our aims to sign up many merchants around the island the ability to pay in restaurants will be something that is easily achievable.

[domob]

We would get all merchants listed on the existing advertising sites available, hopefully with success it would turn the map in the Cyprus area to one big mass of Bitcoin accepting merchants.
With regards to roaming we will be offering prepaid cards that you can load with Bitcoin using the existing clients, this will help navigate the issue of extortionate roaming charges whilst on your holidays.

With our aims to sign up many merchants around the island the ability to pay in restaurants will be something that is easily achievable.

Now that's really great - I surely wish you good luck and hope everything works out as you imagine!  If it does, I'm sure to visit Cyprus in a few years...

[Stemby]

Now that's really great - I surely wish you good luck and hope everything works out as you imagine!  If it does, I'm sure to visit Cyprus in a few years...

+1!

As OSM mapper and Bitcoin enthusiast (and European citizen), I'm very very excited.

Good luck!

[cryptocyprus]

Thank you things are progressing well, we re looking at the possibility for oversees European residents opening accounts online however this will be available after the initial launch here in Cyprus.

[Stemby]

I have launched a blog here www.blog.bit-banking.eu

This link seems to be broken.

[cryptocyprus]

I have launched a blog here www.blog.bit-banking.eu

This link seems to be broken.

www.bit-banking.eu or www.lmb-holdings.com will work, but there is no public information currently available.

We are releasing the full prospectus on Tuesday with updates on progress that has been made recently.

[stenkross]

We are releasing the full prospectus on Tuesday with updates on progress that has been made recently.

Cool!
I'm looking forward to see more about this!