Hong Kong Businesses Use Bitcoin as a Form of Protest
2 min read
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement is encouraging the wider adoption of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Yahoo! Finance reported on Aug. 28 that the political violence in the city which has now entered its 12th week. It has also started prompting several local businesses and individuals to switch to decentralized digital currencies for transactions.
Borderless money for the pro-democracy movement
Hong Kong department store Pricerite announced they would begin to accept Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ether at its fourteen locations in Hong Kong.
It was also said that the store will be able to convert the crypto into Hong Kong dollars using Lightning Network.
Genesis Block, trading under the name “CoinHere” operates 14 cryptocurrency ATMs in Hong Kong. The ATM operator shared water to the protestors July this year. It was paid with international donations using Bitcoin Cash.
The sudden interest in cryptocurrencies comes against a backdrop of other forms of economic activism. Earlier this month protestors initiated an action to withdraw as much money as possible from their bank accounts or convert their HK Dollars into US dollars.
The protestors wanted to send a warning to the Chinese authorities and protect their personal assets.
It was reported that a number of Hong Kong’s tycoons about 853 individuals worth more than $100 million had begun to move their wealth offshore. Reuters published June this year.
Bitcoin prices at a premium in Hong Kong
BTC trading volumes soared in June amidst the turmoil. BTC is still locally trading at a several hundred dollar premium on peer-to-peer exchange LocalBitcoins.
