Bitcoin and Altcoin adoption worldwide: Austria
Since I am into cryptocurrencies I got quite curious on how Bitcoin, blockchain tech and other cryptos are being adopted. So taking a look outside the ‚crypto social bubble‘, I start this series with Europe, taking a look on the first member country in the alphabet: Austria.
- Buying Bitcoin
- Paying with Bitcoin
- Blockchain-economy
- Trends
- Governance
As I will very likely not be able to find every bit of information on this topic, I ask you to engage with this overview by providing further information in the comments.
1. Buy and trade Bitcoin in Austria (score 5/10)
Besides the available international trading platforms and Wallets available, for finding traders locally, there are some other easy ways to buy Bitcoin in Austria.
The Austrian start-up Coinfinity took a lot of action for Bitcoin adoption in Austria. You can purchase bitcoin via Bank transfer on their website. They also emitted Bitcoinbon, a prepaid card to send a certain amount of Euros Bitcoin to you wallet of choice (€ 25, € 50, € 100). These are, which I find interesting, available at every branch of the Post (Austian Postal Service) and in over 3000 ‚Trafiken‘, which is how tobacco stores are called in Austria.
In Vienna some months ago the Bitcoin store House of Nakamoto opened. It has one of currently 38 listed Bitcoin ATMs in Austria, and also sells Bitcoinbon cards. Bitpanda is another Austrian Start-up to purchase bitcoin with creditcard or via bank transfer.
ATM density Austria: 4.63 (ATM/ million residents)
38 ATMs ranks Austria impressively worlds Nr. 4 after USA (883), Canada (180) and UK (68).
Bitcoin in Austria, source coinmap.org.
2. Pay with Bitcoin (score 3/10)
Taking a look at coinmap.org I have counted 95 entries, 48 of them in the capital Vienna. It is including several restaurants and bars, like Diesel´s Bar and the vegan restaurant Tian as well as several beauty salons. Lieferservice.at, one of the biggest food delivery services is also (via Bitpay) in the game just like some hotels and shops such as the beer speciality store Malefitz.
For a more complete list of international and local Bitcoin commerce check Bitcoin Wiki.
3. Blockchain Economy (score 3/10)
Community:Besides the Online brokers Coinfinity and Bitpanda mentioned there is the Blockchain Hub in Graz and Bitcoin Austria. In the Linz Center of Mechatronics LCM just recently a Austrian Blockchain Think Tank was announced.
Startups:
Cointed Producer of BTC ATMS
Coinfinity is issuing Bitcoinbon - a BTC prepaid card
Corporations:Not many activities are known amongst Austrian companies. The leading energy provider Wien Energie has recently announced testing a blockchain application for trading gas, in cooperation with the Canadian start-up BTL GROUP LTD.
Ethereum Enterprise Alliance members from Austria: (0/116) 0%
R3 members from Austria: (0/80) 0%
**Global Bitcoin Nodes Distribution: AT is ranked 29th with 34 nodes (less than 1%)
4. Bitcoin Trends Austria (score 6/10)
Google Trends is a decent source for measuring the popularity of search terms. I checked some terms and how Austria was performing here in the last 7 days. these were the search terms I was checking, with the global ranking of Austria:
Bitcoin: 6. (which is unexpectedly high imo)
Ethereum: 5. (not bad either!)
Steemit: 23.
Blockchain: 11.
5. Known Government and Central Bank activities (score 1/10)
Not any known activities. The Austrian National Bank, OeNB, is stating that bitcoin is not a currency but a speculative niche phenomena. In a recent TV Interview a spokesman of OeNB stated they were observing Bitcoin, but as it looks like, they are no taking further action anyway- OeNB president Novotny in an Austrian Newspaper interview on Bitcoin compared its rise with the Tulp Mania in the 17th century.
The Arbeiterkammer, an institution for labor rights, has published a warning concerning Bitcoin.
So that‘s what I have found out about bitcoin and Blockchain in Austria. If I missed something please share your knowledge in the comments.
Overall Score:
1. Buy and Trade Bitcoin in Austria: (score 5/10)
2. Pay with Bitcoin (score 3/10)
3. Blockchain economy (score 3/10)
4. Trends Austria (score 6/10)
5. Governance (score 2.5/10)
Overall Blockchain Adoption Score Austria: (3.9/10)
The next country I will check is Belgium.
Thank you very much for the research! =)
You're welcome
BTW @gric says you've been many times at the Palffy shooting video. We may have crossed paths before. ;-)
Yes, I think we have. :) have a nice day!
Very interesting article! Thanks Thomas!
One day Crypto will take over the world. And the people that did not buy in early will regret everything haha
Stellar is offering free lumen tokens to bitcoin holders. They're just distributing it to addresses based on the blockchain, it is part of their business plan. Do not miss it ! I mean, whether you like Stellar or not, it is free money !
Interesting findings, especially number 2. "Pay with Bitcoin (in Austria)" and number 4. "Bitcoin trends Austria". Good research! Get's me an overall view of the adoption of cryptocurrencies. I wrote an article about the adoption of cryptocurrencies and how it ties to the technology-product-lifecycle: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@remyremy/a-50-drop-in-a-couple-of-days-and-a-35-recovery-in-24-hours-should-you-worry
As an Austrian crypto-enthusiast i can very much recommend bitpanda. I did a lot of trading via their simple, clean and slick site. Fees seem to be fair enough, transactions are fast, one can pay via Giro, Creaditcard, Instant-Giro, Skrill, Neteller and more....