Airport and town in Australia notch up crypto firsts

And five hours away, Agnes Water, is also claiming to be the world’s first digital currency-friendly tourist beach town, where dozens of shops have embraced tokens as a form of payment. The aim is to attract a niche market of international travellers who use cryptocurrency, which is still not yet regarded as legal money in Australia but as property. However, many shops across the country have gradually began to jump on the bandwagon.

Businesses at Brisbane International Airport announced in January they would start accepting cryptocurrencies for payment of purchases and today all shops there accept transactions via the likes of Bitcoin Core, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum, Xem and Steem.

To make this possible, Brisbane Airport Corporation partnered with Australian payment provider TravelbyBit. “We’ve got travellers from all over the world testing it out and I think the merchants are really excited. They have been telling us they have been getting a lot of interaction from all the different visitors and that’s created a bit of a buzz,” says TravelbyBit CEO Caleb Yeoh. He adds that people can visit the company’s website to view live transactions, which have varied between $5 and $55.