More restaurants, stores accept virtual currencies
By Nam Hyun-woo
Despite the government’s reiteration that digital tokens are not a legitimate currency, more stores, accommodations and restaurants accept virtual currencies as payment amid the country’s craze for those tokens.
According to Coinmap, a website showing stores and restaurants available with bitcoin payment, there are 151 places listed in Korea that accept bitcoins for payment as of Monday.
A month earlier, the number stood at 130, showing an increase of 21. It is a sharp increase as it took nearly three years for the number to reach 50 last year after Korea first saw its first bitcoin-accepting store in December 2013 -- a Paris Baguette bakery in Incheon.
However, the number does not mean all of them actually accept the token.
One of the stores on the list contacted by The Korea Times said it used to accept bitcoins, but it no longer does because “there were almost no customers paying with the virtual money, while the process was way too complicated.” The Paris Baguette store in Incheon also stopped receiving bitcoins last year because not many customers were buying bread with digital currency.
One of the obstacles virtual currency users cite is the time required for a transfer.
Most virtual currency payments here are done by the customer sending the relevant amount of bitcoins from their wallet to the shop owner’s wallet. Given this process takes up to one hour, shop owners here tend to receive altcoins such as Ripple, which have faster processing times. Altcoins refer to alternative cryptocurrencies that came after the success of bitcoin.
Experts say improvements in the payment environment are necessary for expanded use of virtual currencies as a means of payment.
Currently, a number of fintech firms and virtual currency exchanges are striving to launch a virtual currency payment system.
The domestic cryptocurrency exchange HTS Coin partnered with Goto Mall, an underground shopping mall at Gangnam Express Bus Terminal, introducing a bitcoin-accepting payment system within the mall.
According to HTS Coin, its payment system allows transfers from customers to shop owners taking only 0.03 seconds. On Dec. 24, 620 shops at the mall will start accepting bitcoins.
Another setback experts say is the fluctuation of virtual currencies’ value. Earlier this month, Steam, one of the world’s largest game distribution platforms, said it no longer accepts bitcoin as a payment method, citing “high fees and volatility.”
The government’s new regulation on virtual currency trading is also a problem. The government on Dec. 13 prohibited virtual currency trading by minors or foreign residents in Korea, in the belief that Korea’s craze for virtual currency trading is overheated.