Bitcoin Cash Embassy Opens in Limassol, Cyprus

With Coinbase and Gdax launching Bitcoin Cash (BCH), cryptocurrency adoption may accelerate further. To help local users, developers and investors meet and discuss, Cyprus will have a new Bitcoin Cash community center.

Cash Island

Limassol, Cyprus’ second-largest city, will host its first Bitcoin Cash Embassy in early 2018. The center will be an open community center where people can talk about cryptocurrencies, participate in free discussions, and meet regularly with industry experts. It will be hosted by Hello Group, a fintech company that launched its first Bitcoin ATM a month ago.

Cyprus is an ideal location for cryptocurrency. The island serves as a regional offshore financial center for many companies from Europe, Russia, and the Middle East that need cost-effective solutions to move money across borders. It’s also easy for individual users to see the benefits of using cryptocurrencies, especially those with memories of the 2013 EU “bail-in” crisis still fresh in their minds. Additionally, the country’s University of Nicosia is the first academic institution in the world to offer a master’s degree in digital currencies.

Just Better

The main reason supporters are excited about Bitcoin Cash is because businesses are choosing to accept it and it performs well in terms of speed and cost. One example is the founder of Goldmoney, who recently expressed hope that the company would add BCH soon after waiting 10 hours for BTC transactions to be confirmed.

Many advocates also believe that BCH is more faithful to the concept of cryptocurrency. Yoshitaka Kitao, president and CEO of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, recently said: "The vision of the original Bitcoin white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto himself is to establish a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. This is a strong vision, and the SBI Group will invest more resources to support a future world where Bitcoin Cash is used for daily payments worldwide."