In the small town of Agnes Water-1770 in central Queensland, more than 30 businesses are now accepting payments in encrypted currency, a beach neighborhood that claims to be Australia's first "digital currency-friendly" tourist town.
The aim is to attract a niche market for international tourists who can pay in digital currencies such as bitcoin, which can immediately be converted into Australian dollars.
Gordon Christian (Gordon Christian), a local real estate agent, said he had won the support of local businesses by bringing the technology to town to promote tourism, its main industry.
Christian said the strategy is to attract more tourists to the region, while attracting another category of tourists.
This week, the encrypted currency Organization and tourists from Japan will work with local businesses to launch the town's promotional campaign, which has been promoted on billboards that welcome visitors.
A new field of finance
From cafes in Launceston, Tata, to barbershops in Burleigh, Queensland, physical retailers across Australia are beginning to accept digital money, which is purchased online and encrypted using data technology, known as block chains.
It became a legal tender in July 2017, while the Australian dollar now ranks 18th in Bitcoin trading volumes, well behind the yen, which is high in volatile markets.
Last week, TravelbyBit, a Queensland start-up, launched a retail terminal app to facilitate encryption payments at Brisbane airport and won the title of Australia's first digital currency-friendly airport.
Tracking the company's website shows that so far, the airport has a small number of transactions every day, trading volume between 5 yuan and 55 yuan.
Keller Young (Caleb Yeoh), chief executive of TravelbyBit, said it was in the early stages of implementing encrypted currencies and that it had received strong support as a "social activity".
"if you travel around the world, you have to deal with multiple currencies, exchange rates can be confusing, sometimes it's hard to find ATMs, sometimes you're tricked away by money changers," he said.
"use a global currency like Bitcoin. It means something. "
Block chain technology protects merchants from credit card fraud, he added.
"Block chains have the ability to make transactions more transparent and efficient. I think this is the way of the future. "
Providing encryption technology to the less developed regions of Australia
At Agnes Water-1770, Christian, who started studying digital currency, one of his clients is also a shopkeeper, wondering how to handle Bitcoin payments from clients.
Christian also learned that the encrypted currency had been introduced at Brisbane airport, and that he thought it was something worth seeing.
In this small town of more than 2000 permanent residents, it is not difficult to get business support.
"We start at the grass-roots level and share it with several businesses, and they're willing to do it," Christian said. I guess they are international tourists and have heard of these currency types of payments. "there were only 10 at first and then 31 signed up, from holiday hotels and backpackers to travel companies, restaurants, local bars and day spa."
Attract different types of tourists
Around the world, especially in countries such as Japan and South Korea, encrypted currencies are gathering loyal users. Mr. Young said Agnes Water-1770, Australia's first digital currency town, is likely to attract people from Keynes. Visitors to more typical tourist destinations such as Sydney and Melbourne.
"We have merchants across Australia who use encrypted currency, but they are very dispersed. Agnes Water-1770 is the most concentrated town," Mr. Yang said. "the town has made a very strategic move to attract a niche market and bring some tourists here because it accepts digital currency."
When the billboard stood near the center of the town, locals joked that it was "using bitcoin as bait", a quiet coastal town five hours north of Brisbane.
But others are excited about the move.
Christian said the block chain of digital ledger technology opened up a "new way of doing business, information storage and logistics tracking around the world."
"this is a whole new world."