While many countries around the world have refused to step into the crypto era, Agnes Water, a famous tourist town in Queensland Australia has announced itself the first “digital currency town in Australia.”
The initiative, championed by crypto company TravelByBit and NEM is aimed at attracting more ‘niche investors’ to the region with flexible payment option using cryptocurrencies albeit cash and debit cards.
Surprisingly, Australia is yet to announce cryptocurrencies as an official means of exchange, but over 30 stores in the Agnes Water suburb have given their support to the digital money concept.
A number of resorts, backpackers, tour companies, restaurants, the local pub and spa owners in the region with an estimated 2000 residents will now live the digital currency era.
Following the announcement, tourists to the town can now complete payments at checkouts with any of the accepted cryptocurrencies that include NEM (XEM), Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum (ETH).
TravelByBit CEO, Caleb Yeoh, expressed a firm conviction that the new adoption would play out well in the long run.
“If you travel around the world you have to deal with multiple currencies, the exchange rate can be confusing, sometimes you struggle to find ATMs, and sometimes you get swindled by money changers.
Traveling with one global currency like Bitcoin… makes sense,” he said.
Christian Gordon, a real estate agent in the area, is believed to be responsible for taking the idea to the natives and afterward described it as a ‘whole new world.’
Even though TravelByBit is native to the region, the firm has recently been on the spotlight for reaching new milestones, most notably rolling out a new mobile app that helps commuters at the Brisbane International Airport pay for fares using crypto tokens.
Crypto In Australia
Whether the recent developments would spur the official approval of cryptocurrencies as a payment option in Australia remains a speculation that could come to fruition pretty soon.
On the one hand, adoption of cryptocurrencies in this Queensland town lends a voice to the digital money concept and its power to lead the world into an entirely cashless economy.
Where would crypto go next?