Bitcoin Nordic: 300M can now buy bitcoin in the Middle East and North Africa

[fimp]

COPENHAGEN, July 14, 2012
Until now, more than 300 million people living in the Middle Eastern and North African countries have had no direct way to acquire bitcoins.

This ends today as Bitcoin Nordic introduces cashU as a payment option. cashU prepaid cards can be bought at locations all over the Middle East and North Africa.

"We are very excited about introducing cashU as a payment option on Bitcoin Nordic. This will expose Bitcoin to a whole new region," says Lasse Birk Olesen, Head of Operations at Bitcoin Nordic.

cashU prepaid cards are available in every country in the Middle East and North Africa with especially large presences in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

And cashU prepaid cards are just one way to top up a cashU account, as cashU cooperates with Ukash and several other payment systems to make it truly globally available.

The price for purchasing bitcoins with cashU is the MtGox 24h average + 15% at the moment, but Bitcoin Nordic is looking to lower this as soon as volume increases.

Get bitcoins for cashU today at www.bitcoinnordic.com

Bitcoin Nordic is a registered company in Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark. The service was launched April 2, 2012 with its main feature being the instant delivery of bitcoins for payment by credit card. Two months later, this was suspended by the VISA and MasterCard organizations, but Bitcoin Nordic has continued to serve Europe with bitcoins for bank transfers and anonymous cash in the mail. With cashU, Bitcoin Nordic continues on its mission to deliver bitcoins to everyone fast and easy.

[bg002h]

Wow...this could be huge. Best of luck!

[unclemantis]

btc value is going to skyrocket now!

[hazek]

btc value is going to skyrocket now!

Heh, will it really?

This is a layer on top of the traditional banking system not on top of Bitcoin and I also don't really understand how the option to top up your cashU account with either buying a prepaid card via fiat or using bitcoins introduces Bitcoin to all those people.

I'm all for any type of development when it's conntected to Bitcoin and I wish them good luck but I'm not particularly a fan of this specific endeavour.

[fimp]

Heh, will it really?

This is a layer on top of the traditional banking system not on top of Bitcoin and I also don't really understand how the option to top up your cashU account with either buying a prepaid card via fiat or using bitcoins introduces Bitcoin to all those people.

I'm all for any type of development when it's conntected to Bitcoin and I wish them good luck but I'm not particularly a fan of this specific endeavour.

We're not offering to top up cashU cards by sending us bitcoins. It's the other way around: We're selling bitcoins for cashU payments.

Before, people in the Middle East and North Africa did not have any obvious way to acquire bitcoins. Now they do.

[hazek]

EDIT: NVM I get it now.

For some reason your OP was super confusing to me, I had to read it like 10 times.

[Stephen Gornick]

The price for purchasing bitcoins with cashU is the MtGox 24h average + 15% at the moment, but Bitcoin Nordic is looking to lower this as soon as volume increases.

The website also show sales tax:
 "15% at the time of processing including 1.82% sales tax, which is currently 8.746877 USD. "

That reads that the 15% already includes sale tax.  Is that correct?

Plus ... sales tax?  Is that because these are being treated as a digital good or something?

[crazy_rabbit]

Heh, will it really?

This is a layer on top of the traditional banking system not on top of Bitcoin and I also don't really understand how the option to top up your cashU account with either buying a prepaid card via fiat or using bitcoins introduces Bitcoin to all those people.

I'm all for any type of development when it's conntected to Bitcoin and I wish them good luck but I'm not particularly a fan of this specific endeavour.

We're not offering to top up cashU cards by sending us bitcoins. It's the other way around: We're selling bitcoins for cashU payments.

Before, people in the Middle East and North Africa did not have any obvious way to acquire bitcoins. Now they do.

Very nice, although I think it's the other way around that makes for incredible potential. If you can figure out a way to get Middle East and North Africans in Europe to use Bitcoins to transfer their earnings back home to their families: Then it would be a KILLER. :-)

[Spekulatius]

Heh, will it really?

This is a layer on top of the traditional banking system not on top of Bitcoin and I also don't really understand how the option to top up your cashU account with either buying a prepaid card via fiat or using bitcoins introduces Bitcoin to all those people.

I'm all for any type of development when it's conntected to Bitcoin and I wish them good luck but I'm not particularly a fan of this specific endeavour.

We're not offering to top up cashU cards by sending us bitcoins. It's the other way around: We're selling bitcoins for cashU payments.

Before, people in the Middle East and North Africa did not have any obvious way to acquire bitcoins. Now they do.

Very nice, although I think it's the other way around that makes for incredible potential. If you can figure out a way to get Middle East and North Africans in Europe to use Bitcoins to transfer their earnings back home to their families: Then it would be a KILLER. :-)

agreed

[kentrolla]

The 15% fee is way to high to get people involved. I'd suggest starting with a lower fee, then once you have people hooked then you can raise the fee.  start with like 5% imo. Nobody will want to make an investment with a 15% fee.

[fimp]

The price for purchasing bitcoins with cashU is the MtGox 24h average + 15% at the moment, but Bitcoin Nordic is looking to lower this as soon as volume increases.

The website also show sales tax:
 "15% at the time of processing including 1.82% sales tax, which is currently 8.746877 USD. "

That reads that the 15% already includes sale tax.  Is that correct?

Plus ... sales tax?  Is that because these are being treated as a digital good or something?

Yes, that's correct, it's included in the 15%.

We treat bitcoins as goods and must therefore apply a sales tax for customers within the EU. But I have removed it from the cashU page now as most purchases made with cashU will probably not be by Europeans.

[minorman]

Held og lykke med det Lasse. Det kan kun goere gode ting - for baade Bitcoin Nordic og for Bitcoin.

[Realpra]

Great stuff.

[elux]

Great! Anyone got English literacy rates for the region, or for specific cashU countries?

You would probably benefit from hiring someone to do professional Arabic and French translations.

[mcorlett]

Great! Anyone got English literacy rates for the region, or for specific cashU countries?

Table 4a - Literacy (I can't open the file right now, but this should contain what you're looking for. It's been a great resource for me in the past.)

• Adult (15+) literacy rate, by sex
• Youth (15-24) literacy rate, by sex

United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics

[fimp]

Great! Anyone got English literacy rates for the region, or for specific cashU countries?

Table 4a - Literacy (I can't open the file right now, but this should contain what you're looking for. It's been a great resource for me in the past.)

• Adult (15+) literacy rate, by sex
• Youth (15-24) literacy rate, by sex

United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics

I think that's the general literacy, not English literacy.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

This is pretty freken awesome guys, NICE JOB!!!

[fornit]

do all those africans know they can buy bitcoins now?

[elux]

Great! Anyone got English literacy rates for the region, or for specific cashU countries?

Table 4a - Literacy (I can't open the file right now, but this should contain what you're looking for. It's been a great resource for me in the past.)

• Adult (15+) literacy rate, by sex
• Youth (15-24) literacy rate, by sex

United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics

I think that's the general literacy, not English literacy.

You may want to have a look at this: Wikipedia - List of countries by English-speaking population.

It seems very few people have English as a primary OR secondary language in the majority of countries on this list. I don't think it's too bold to assume that most English speakers would not, could not or should not buy things from - let's say - a Mandarin language website, no matter the product and price.

[giszmo]

a) cashU again is not an option in Iran
b) Bitcoin info is barely available in Arab or Farsi
c) many Bitcoin sites are censored by the sites' owners for Iranian people

Many people here have a very USA/Europe-centric perspective of the world.