SNC Pilates and Busyfeet & Coco Café have joined a growing list of Irish businesses which accept the virtual currency bitcoin as payment.
Sinéad Nic Clámha of SNC Pilates said she now accepts bitcoin payments for five- and 10-class packages for group pilates classes in Dublin 15. She said a five-class package is €60 or about 0.3 BTC and the 10-class package is €100 or 0.46 BTC.
Busyfeet & Coco Cafe, located on Dublin’s South William Street, has also begun accepting the cryptocurrency. Visitors to the café can purchase food and drinks with the virtual currency. They can also exchange euro for bitcoin at the café’s onsite bitcoin ATM.
Richard Hanlon, co-owner of Busyfeet & CoCo, said 1-1.5 per cent of the cafe's overall sales were paid for in bitcoin. He added that from a retailer point of view, bitcoin was cheaper to accept than credit cards.
“There is no cost for us to accept bitcoin. There are charges for accepting credit card payments.”
The Skyhook bitcoin machine in the cafe is the second bitcoin ATM to be unveiled in Dublin. However, it is a one-way machine, meaning customers can use euro to purchase bitcoin at the machine, but not exchange bitcoin for euro.
Ireland’s first bitcoin ATM was unveiled in Dublin last year. That ATM is located in GSM Solutions on Upper Abbey Street. The company, which offers electronic repair services, will also accept the payment for products sold in their store.
Bitcoin found itself in the headlines and the focus of a lot of negative publicity last year as its value fluctuated wildly in the wake of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox filing for bankruptcy.
