by John Smith Early next year, thousands of French tobacco shops will offer a new service: the sale of coupons to easily buy small amounts of bitcoin.
After mobile recharges and the opening of Nickel bank accounts, it will soon be possible to go to a tobacco shop in France to buy … bitcoins. From January 1st, 2019, between 3,000 and 4,000 tobacco shops will offer the sale of “coupons” worth 50, 100 or 250 euros, which will give access to their equivalent in cryptocurrency.
This new service is in fact the result of an agreement between Bimedia, one of the marketers of dematerialized services for French tobacco shops, and KeplerK, a young financial company specializing in the sale of cryptocurrencies.
Specifically, the user will buy at the tobacco shop a coupon corresponding to the amount chosen. On this paper ticket will be entered an alphanumeric code and a QR code. He will then have to create an online account on the KeplerK application or site for the sum to be converted into bitcoins.
These will initially be stored in an electronic wallet at KeplerK, but the user will then have the choice to migrate them to another electronic wallet or spend them.
To create your account, you must be over 18 years old and provide, in addition to an email and a mobile number, a copy of your ID (passport, identity card or residence permit), a proof of address and a selfie. “We respect the same level of legal obligation of ” Know your customer ” as an online bank,” says Christian Gars, CEO of KeplerK.
The number of bitcoins arriving at the account will depend on the price of the cryptocurrency – calculated using the market rates of different stock exchanges – in effect at the time of purchase at the tobacconist. Less the commission of 7% levied by the company KeplerK.
Tobacco shops will receive 1.25% of the face amount of tickets sold. For the confederation of tobacco shops, always looking for new ways to diversify its activities, it is rather an interesting opportunity to experiment than waiting for a real source of growth.
And the trend is to caution. “We will be very attentive. We are all aware that we are facing a virtual currency, and we do not want that one of our tobacco shops face real difficulties, “insists Philippe Coy, president of the French Confederation of Tobacco shops, who does not expect a rush of new investors. “But not to look at the subject would turn its back on history,” he said, recalling that the tobacco shops were the first to offer dematerialized refills at the beginning of the mobile phone industry.
The company KeplerK, which explains wanting to democratize access to cryptocurrencies, wants to be on the same wavelength: “Our strategy is to go through a trusted third party for distribution. The main obstacle to the purchase of cryptocurrencies today is to just do the purchase of Bictoin, “believes Christian Gars. Buying cryptocurrencies is only possible today via specialized platforms, which can scare the uninitiated.
Tickets sold will be accompanied by a warning clearly warning buyers of the risks involved. The management of KeplerK indicates that it has submitted its project to the Prudential Supervisory and Resolution Authorities (ACPR) for information. For its part, the Banque de France regularly reminds that bitcoins are purely “speculative” assets and are not currencies. “Those who invest in bitcoin as in other crypto assets do it entirely at their own risk,” she repeats. Cryptocurrencies are currently experiencing a serious coup de tabac for a week: bitcoin is currently worth less than 4,000 euros (November 2018). It has lost 70% of its value since the beginning of 2018!
But it’s a great news for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption!
The easier it will be for people to buy cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, the more people will get involve and try it.
Mass adoption of crypto go through ideas like this, making it easier for people to buy bitcoin and avoiding crypto scams!
It’s also an easy way to buy Bitcoin as gift as there are thousands of Tobacco shops in France. A great idea to get people’s attention into Bitcoin!
Maybe soon it will also be possible to buy a Nano Ledger Hardware Crypto Wallet in these shops!
If you want to buy a Nano Ledger, Click Here!
Otherwise, like said in this article, to buy Bitcoin people have to go through a difficult process on a Cryptocurrency exchange like explained in our article here: https://bitcoincryptoadvice.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin.
