As a Sign of Protest, Hong Kong Businesses Start Adopting Bitcoin
By Luke Flowers - Cryptocurrency Enthusiast
Hong Kong is experiencing a great surge in cryptocurrency adoption amid anti-government and pro-democracy movements.
On Aug. 28, Yahoo Finance reported the political unrest in the city - now entering its 12th week - is forcing several individuals and local businesses to switch over to decentralised and non-sovereign digital currencies resulting in many buying Bitcoin.
Pricerite, a Hong Kong department store, announced on August 26 that it would start accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) at fourteen locations in Hong Kong. Many customers will be pleased to know they can buy crypto to spend at one of the many stores.
Yahoo Finance states Pricerite will quickly convert cryptos into Hong Kong dollars via the Bitcoin network’s scalability layer, the Lightning Network. Once converted the dollars can be spent in store. Though any user buying and selling Bitcoin will be able to utilise this feature to make a purchase, Hong Kong Dollars are still essential in the transaction to prevent exposure for the merchant.
Besides conventional retailers, cryptocurrency firm Genesis Block is said to be operating over 14 crypto ATMs all over the city. Back in July, Genesis Block handed out water to protestors which has been paid for using Bitcoin Cash’s (BCH) international donations and umbrellas.
This huge spike in crypto buying activity follows a series of other economic activisms. Protestors at the start of the month started to withdraw as much money from their bank accounts, or have their local currency converted into US dollars.
This action had two purposes to it; protestors could protect their personal assets as well as send a clear message to Chinese authorities attempting to interfere in Hong Kong.
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