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A Nyeri-based restaurant has become one the first businesses entities in the country to accept payments through world's famous cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.
Betty Place Restaurant, located in the heart of the former Central Province headquarters, announced it will now accept payments through Bitcoin.
The restaurant has embraced the payment mode despite earlier warning by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). In a past media briefing, CBK governor Patrick Njoroge warned that investing in the virtual currency could lead to massive money loses.
“From our perspective that (bitcoin) is something we cannot support. It is a bubble of a kind. It is dangerous. Be ready to lose all your money,” Dr Njoroge said in a past press briefing.
Betty Place owner, Beatrice Wanjiru Wambugu, a cryptocurrency enthusiast, said three customers have so far paid for services at the hotel using the currency. She said they made payments equivalent of Sh4,000.
“We convert the equivalent of local currency with the bitcoin value. “Bitcoins can be broken down up to, for instance, 0.00000001 of a currency. You can pay a bill of anything from Sh100 upwards. Our system will produce an address or a barcode, you scan and transfer bitcoins to our wallet,” Wanjiru told Business Daily.
To use this mode of payment, one must be part of the cryptocurrency community and have bitcoins. One must also have blockchain wallet, a mobile phone application that enables one to store, send, and receive digital assets.
On Tuesday, Members of Parliament gave the National Treasury two weeks to announce whether virtual currencies should become legal tender in the country.
“There is a bigger problem in Kenya since people are trading billions in virtual space yet the Treasury has not licensed and taxed it like trade in M-Pesa and bank transactions,” said Joseph Limo, chair of the Finance and National Planning Committee.
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Bitcoin is not foreign. It's out there as an open-source modifiable for anybody to use. Infact, our beloved shilling is more foreign.
How can a sovereign country allow a foreign currency to be used in the country? Something that even locals do not understand? Have we already sold our country to the colonialists? What is Kenya's currency? Who are we? Foreign God, foreign names, foreign clothes, foreign food and now foreign currency. When will the government step in and safeguard the citizenry. First teach us what it is in our local languages? The fact that Mzungu calls it international does not mean anything to the locals. International could mean as few as two countries. Let's not be too quick or excited about a foreign currency. If we don't know what it is, it could be another trap for the wealth of Kenyans.