Alberta outfit Bitcoin Ventures launches BTC gift card in first retail location
EDMONTON, Jan. 13, 2014 /CNW/ - Heard the buzz about bitcoins -- but not sure how to get your hands on this new digital currency?
Bitcoin Ventures announces the official launch of CoinTap, a pre-paid access card that makes buying bitcoins easy.
"CoinTap is the first Bitcoin gift card ever to go on sale in retails stores in Canada," says Ashley Fulks, the company's president.
Fulks first heard that Remedy Café in downtown Edmonton was accepting bitcoins for food and drink last fall.
"I immediately contacted the owner, Zee Zaidi, and asked him if he was interested in selling CoinTap cards to his customers. He was, and so here we are! The best part --now anyone can buy bitcoins."
A CoinTap card retails for $55.50 which redeems you $50 in bitcoins (at market rate) on CoinTap's online website, www.cointap.co. A single person can redeem up to $1,000 in cards per day, the equivalent of about one bitcoin.
"Once you've redeemed your bitcoins at Cointap.co, you can buy things with bitcoins, trade them, sell them, hold onto them as an investment, or keep them in your electronic wallet for a rainy day!" says Fulks, who founded Bitcoin Ventures last summer with four other guys who are passionate about bitcoin.
"We believe Bitcoin is going to change the world in a good way by creating new markets and technologies to solve problems," says Fulks. "We are excited that Canada is so Bitcoin-friendly. We are getting a leg up on our competition by being the first to operate in Canada."
Bitcoin is a payment network that runs on the Internet. It generates and uses bitcoins as a currency, which can be exchanged for Canadian dollars, Euros, Rubbles, gold or virtually any other kind of money.
The CoinTap launch event will be held this Wednesday, January 15 at 9 p.m. at Remedy Café, 10279 Jasper Ave.
Present at the launch will be the Edmonton Bitcoin Meet-up group. Honors of the first sale will go to Bitcoin Pete, the founder of BEMU, who worked together with Zee last fall to get the café online with accepting bitcoins.
"I want to be the first person to buy a CoinTap card because it seems like the easiest, most sophisticated, and user-friendly way to buy bitcoins," says Pete Dushenski.
"Buying my first bitcoin through an online exchange was a daunting experience and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I think that CoinTap adds a huge amount of value to the Bitcoin space by making bitcoins more accessible."
All media are invited to the launch at Remedy Café. CoinTap cards will be limited in supply to 500 for the launch.
About Company
Based in Calgary, Alberta, Bitcoin Ventures Inc. was founded in 2013 by a forward-thinking group of business-savvy computer-techs.
For more information visit www.cointap.co
SOURCE: Bitcoin Ventures Ltd.
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Bitcoin Ventures Inc.
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