Has Berlin secretly developed into the cryptocurrency capital of the world?
Berlin-based European School of Management and Technology – a state-accredited business university – recently announced that it would accept bitcoin as a currency “for all payments” including tuition. The so-called ‘Bitcoinkiez’, a neighbourhood in Berlin’s lively district Kreuzberg, boots the highest density of bitcoin-accepting businesses worldwide. Paying for a burger and Coke with bitcoins? No problem in Berlin.
Finanzen.net, Germany’s most popular and largest financial news platform, even lists Bbitcoin amongst other major reserve currencies such as the dollar and the yen. Investment in Berlin’s fintech industry is already thriving, but what about startups dealing with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology?
Bitwala, SatoshiPay, All4btc and Bitbond are some of Berlin’s hottest startups to watch out for.
SatoshiPay – Will Nanopayments Solve the Media Crisis?
SatoshiPay believes that nanopayments can solve the problem of monetising journalistic work in the age of “free” or ad-supported content. By providing a wallet for pocket change on the web, the company allows consumers to instantly purchase articles, images or videos for fractions of a penny. Enabled by blockchain technology, a browser Bitcoin wallet is automatically created when a website is visited, without the requirement of timely software downloads or user sign-ups. Once topped up by the user, the wallet can be used to instantly unlock paid online content across the web.
SatoshiPay was founded in 2014 and recently raised €1m from London Stock Exchange-listed Blue Star Capital to bring its application to the mainstream.
