The first gas station to accept Bitcoin in my region

[Wakate]

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is decentralized for peer-to-peer transactions. I see Bitcoin has a normal currency just like fiat that is used for daily transactions of goods and services. I am a lover of Bitcoin and I am very passionate about it even though it is volatile but also a good investment for long term holders. There is great opportunity for holders to benefit as the market fluctuate from one price to another.

As the new elected manager of my gas station, I have successfully initiate the use of Bitcoin as an alternative payment to help advocate and promote the use of great digital currency called  BTC. I am a Bitcoin lover and I intend to encourage the use in my local region so customers can pay and get to know about it. I see Bitcoin as both investment and a currency and the company can make more if we hold it in respective of the market conditions.

I know how challenging it can be to introduce an option for payment in Bitcoin, but with time customers may prefer it to fiat in respective of the network fee. It was never easy for me to convince the board about having an option for payment in Bitcoin, and I am happy for the enormous knowledge I was able to gather here and those that advised me on making this a success.

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[glendall]

congratulation for you .
Bitcoin can be used as a means of p2p payment, but if you compare it to fiat, it's really very different, are you not afraid if the value of btc returns to its lowest price during difficult times? don't you feel lost?
tell me where is your country

[Myleschetty]

congratulation for you .
Bitcoin can be used as a means of p2p payment, but if you compare it to fiat, it's really very different, are you not afraid if the value of btc returns to its lowest price during difficult times? don't you feel lost?

Something is more important what we want is what they say. Laszlo spent 10,000BTC on pizzas because he want people to have a belief in Bitcoin nothing should us either from doing the something for the betterment of the eocsystem.

tell me where is your country

He is probably from Africa but it seems like the OP doesn't want to dox himself because if he want us to know where he's from he would have included it in the OP page.

[Darker45]

tell me where is your country

He is probably from Africa but it seems like the OP doesn't want to dox himself because if he want us to know where he's from he would have included it in the OP page.

From the pictures, it seems OP is from Nigeria. The pricing of the gas is in Naira, which is Nigeria's official currency.

While I admire OP for introducing Bitcoin payment to this gas station, supposing he/she is from Nigeria, I am wondering whether it is legally acceptable for business establishments to accept Bitcoin payments. Last I heard, Nigeria issued a ban on crypto transactions.

Anyway, is LN also in place here? Transaction speed might be an issue. I am also curious to know whether the owner himself/herself knows what the manager did to the business.

[Ahli38]

a phrase that suits you is "YOU ARE AMAZING" . This is a very good step in introducing bitcoin to those around you. I hope many are motivated and follow your steps in the future

[yazher]

congratulation for you .
Bitcoin can be used as a means of p2p payment, but if you compare it to fiat, it's really very different, are you not afraid if the value of btc returns to its lowest price during difficult times? don't you feel lost?
tell me where is your country

The owner seems like don't care about it and it's just some kind of investment for him to accept BTC since we all know the price right now is low and it could be multiplied in the next months to come so it's a better initiative than for not doing anything about the current situation of the market. Since they might be getting some decent amount of BTC from their customers without decreasing their usual income because people will pay with BTC are not many compared to those who pay with fiat.

[lombok]

I know how challenging it can be to introduce an option for payment in Bitcoin, but with time customers may prefer it to fiat in respective of the network fee. It was never easy for me to convince the board about having an option for payment in Bitcoin, and I am happy for the enormous knowledge I was able to gather here and those that advised me on making this a success.

Amazing. It's a brilliant idea. What a totality in liking Bitcoin. Be patient and keep trying to promote and educate Bitcoin payments at your place OP. Because they are not used to it, maybe many will choose fiat and compare it, but if many local residents know and use Bitcoin, then BTC payments at your refueling point will start to go mainstream.

Keep fighting!

[yhiaali3]

This is a great step, it is good that you managed to convince the board of directors, you must also have struggled with convincing the city council to accept payment by bitcoin, in my opinion this method is the best way to spread knowledge about the importance of bitcoin, surely you will find some difficulties in the beginning but with time All these problems will be solved and people will get to know Bitcoin in action and will absolutely love it, especially if you can add the option to pay via the lightning network that will make things a lot easier.

[Accardo]

OP this is a proper way to get more profits for the gas station and people with Bitcoin or the knowledge of Bitcoin will frequent your gas station and in one way you just got ahead of your competitors in thesame region.

[Poker Player]

While I admire OP for introducing Bitcoin payment to this gas station, supposing he/she is from Nigeria, I am wondering whether it is legally acceptable for business establishments to accept Bitcoin payments. Last I heard, Nigeria issued a ban on crypto transactions.

Anyway, is LN also in place here? Transaction speed might be an issue. I am also curious to know whether the owner himself/herself knows what the manager did to the business.

I just thought exactly those two things when I saw the OP's post.

I have searched the internet and it seems that although banks and financial institutions are prohibited to operate with cryptocurrencies and they have to
"identify and cancel the accounts of individuals or businesses that deal in cryptocurrencies or run cryptocurrency exchanges."

The paradox is that cryptocurrencies are not illegal per se, so it seems that there is a legal loophole that would allow trading cryptocurrencies.

Source: Cryptocurrency Regulation In Nigeria: Addressing The Regulatory Challenges Of Cryptocurrency In Nigeria.

Let's see if one of the many Nigerians on the forum can clarify this for us.

Regarding LN, one of two things, either they have implemented LN for payments or they will have to accept unconfirmed transactions, maybe with the condition that they do not have RBF enabled, I do not see people waiting for the transaction to be confirmed to leave the gas station, as we know that the average is 10 minutes but sometimes it can easily take you an hour.

[n0ne]

Long back itself cryptocurrency usage is banned in Nigeria. Financial services and bank accounts connected with cryptocurrency transactions were blocked. Even now it isn't legal and the usage is in an unregulated state. During the early days of ban users associated with cryptocurrency transaction were fined heavily. Amidst the ban, usage of cryptocurrencies around Nigeria grew high with time. The government is much focused on developing eNaira to restrict people from using cryptocurrencies. Among survey taken with 154 countries, Nigeria takes the 6th position in terms of P2P volume.

When taken on the positive note, this is really good for a community that has got good number of cryptocurrency users. By the time the business person should also consider the government order, which might bring legal issues.

[Dave1]

Impressive, and as we all know Nigeria is one country that really go full crypto so it make sense that's slowly they will have to find services being offered to be paid in BTC.

For sure the gas owner knows a thing about bitcoin, and who knows he might be a holder after all. There are some online stores that even give discounts if you are going to buy and used bitcoin so this might be a good strategy for the gas owner. Offer discounts for people who are going to used and paid with their bitcoin.

[Darker45]

~snip~

The paradox is that cryptocurrencies are not illegal per se, so it seems that there is a legal loophole that would allow trading cryptocurrencies.

Yeah, and the ban is not really a blanket ban on crypto, but if I'm not mistaken the ban includes prohibiting Bitcoin from being used as payment. If this is right, then this gas station is probably violating something. Perhaps a kind of voucher could somehow skirt the policy? Let's probably hear it from the people of Nigeria themselves.

Regarding LN, one of two things, either they have implemented LN for payments or they will have to accept unconfirmed transactions, maybe with the condition that they do not have RBF enabled, I do not see people waiting for the transaction to be confirmed to leave the gas station, as we know that the average is 10 minutes but sometimes it can easily take you an hour.

It's either nobody is really interested to pay gas with Bitcoin or that even if they want to pay in Bitcoin, they know of the implication and would therefore prefer to pay in fiat. Unless the customer is intentionally choosing this particular gas station so as to try buying gas with Bitcoin.

[Kakmakr]

How interesting to see that a African country (Nigeria) can take the lead with the acceptance of Bitcoin as a payment option for Petrol & Gas.    (I like the Bling on the Gas station.... it looks like an Arabian Prince's house... )

Please share with us the detail on how this works? Do they pay with legacy Bitcoin or through the Lightning Network or through some 3rd party payment processor?

Nigeria and Kenya were also one of the first countries to use M-Pesa... so they are seen as the pioneers of digital currencies in Africa.  

[davis196]

Sorry to say that, but I don't think that many people will buy gasoline with Bitcoins.
Anyway, OP does a great job spreading Bitcoin adoption. Perhaps more people would embrace BTC, after the Bitcoin price drops even further down. Usually,  the mass BTC adoption among small businesses gets postponed in times of high price volatility. I really hope that the upcoming crypto winter will bring more price stability for Bitcoin(which will be temporary, of course), which might lead more businesses and individuals into adopting BTC and using it as normal currency.
The fact, that countries in Latin America and Africa are more open towards to Bitcoin/crypto compared to the countries in Europe, Asia and North America is kinda disturbing. I really want Bitcoin to receive mass recognition everywhere around the world.

[Awaklara]

Very impressive and I admire the way you take advantage of blockchain technology by implementing a transaction system through a gasoline SPBU service. but whether the service has been tested properly? I mean the average price for each fuel purchase,Does it worth the costs that must be incurred each time you make a transaction?

[Charles-Tim]

While I admire OP for introducing Bitcoin payment to this gas station, supposing he/she is from Nigeria, I am wondering whether it is legally acceptable for business establishments to accept Bitcoin payments. Last I heard, Nigeria issued a ban on crypto transactions.

Central Bank of Nigeria banned bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies but this does not stop some businesses from accepting bitcoin. But I can say the ban is affecting and some businesses would rather not accept bitcoin payment because of the ban. But it is not a total ban, it is just an implicit ban. After the ban, I have read news of a school that accepted bitcoin and also a hotel that even wanted to have some of his reserve in bitcoin and accept bitcoin paymen. I do not know if they finally did accepted or still accepting bitcoin, but so far the bank do not know about your p2p, then you are good, while there is nothing they can do because you accept bitcoin.

Anyway, is LN also in place here? Transaction speed might be an issue. I am also curious to know whether the owner himself/herself knows what the manager did to the business.

Bitcoin adoption as payment is not common in Nigeria, Nigerians prefer to hold. Likely most customers (99%) of that gas station will prefer to pay in Naira. As for lightning network, I do not know if it is necessary, if the transaction does not support replace-by-fee and with fee which is enough to get transaction confirmed, then unconfirmed transactions of this type can be accepted. Although, this is just based on my opinion as I can accept on-chain bitcoin transaction in a gas station, as well as lightning payments.

[Igebotz]

While I admire OP for introducing Bitcoin payment to this gas station, supposing he/she is from Nigeria, I am wondering whether it is legally acceptable for business establishments to accept Bitcoin payments. Last I heard, Nigeria issued a ban on crypto transactions.

Anyway, is LN also in place here? Transaction speed might be an issue. I am also curious to know whether the owner himself/herself knows what the manager did to the business.

Let's see if one of the many Nigerians on the forum can clarify this for us.

To keep it brief and simple. The Nigerian government has not issued a total ban on cryptocurrency; the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) has only restricted banks from engaging in crypto transactions; banks' credit cards have been deactivated on exchanges and other crypto-related websites. We have centralized exchanges and shops that continue to advertise cryptocurrency on local TV and newspapers, we have shops that accept bitcoin payment, and I also run a local business that accepts bitcoin payment.

The only way to convert your crypto assets to fiat is through p2p, and we do it smartly. Both the sender and the receiver must be smart in order for the bank not to notice, so while making payment, the sender must include something like "payment for furniture" or come up with something. If any crypto-related word is mentioned in the transaction, both the sender and the receiver's bank accounts will be automatically frozen; this is what the crypto restrictions in Nigeria are all about.

Edit: Charles-Tim beat me to it!! Lol.

[livingfree]

Congratulations for that initiative.
 
There's also the challenge of holding it. I'm thinking about the whole rotation of the business through purchasing a new supply of oil and what if most of the payments done are from bitcoin.

Are you going to release those bitcoins on hold and will sell at current price if you run out of cash to purchase new supply? Well, I just thought that there will be a conflict about cash flow and holding bitcoin as it's a business that's not wholly relying on bitcoin.

[GreatArkansas]

I will be glad to know what is their process for using Bitcoin as the payment method?
Like how it works from customer to store side, is it convenient from both sides? And I am curious the advantage and disadvantages of using Bitcoin for paying your gas on a setup like this. Overall, I'm glad to see a business like this.