Cryptocurrencies have incited an innovative streak all around the world which is hard to miss. These innovations are focused on arriving at the new uses for the virtual currencies.
This phenomenon is distinct from the Blockchain revolution which deserves an entire section alone.
Bitcoin is now entering people’s everyday lives, it seems, as the first bitcoin-powered coffee machine is now available. The creator of the innovative technology is Ricardo Reis, an entrepreneur from Brazil.
The idea behind the Bitcoin – coffee machine is to show that Bitcoin can actually be used as money that can be programmed to do different things, for example, make coffee.
The story broke on social media after a video of the coffee machine goes viral. The video was first posted on Facebook’s BTC group. The machine gets activated whenever a specific amount of BTC enters the machine’s wallet.
The machine has a QR code which allows the users to send over the funds and pay for some coffee. Only thing that is required to trigger the process is an internet connected device and of course, a BTC wallet.
Reis was clear that he is not properly in the cryptocurrency field. However, he considers himself to be a Bitcoinist who is involved with cryptocurrencies as an investment since 2016.
He is in the process of learning more, he says and the coffee machine is a step towards that.
Reis was quoted as saying (roughly translated):
“I developed a device that powers the coffee machine with Bitcoin transactions to study and have fun. Dealing with technology, for me, besides work, is a hobby. My intention was not to create something to explore commercially, I wanted to simply explore the technology’s capability and show other people how BTC is ‘programmable money’.”
The cryptocurrency market was on a steep decline since past few weeks. BTC is trading at 6500 USD from its peak in December’s 20,000 USD. However, the market is bouncing back a little after the US SEC declared that it doesn’t considers Ethereum a security.
Rohit Kukreja
