Who knew that the post office wasn’t just for sending and receiving packages and letters anymore? In Australia, customers are now eligible to purchase bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from local post offices.
Australia Is Bringing Bitcoin to the Masses
One of the country’s oldest establishments – Australia Post – is now teaming up with bitcoin.com.au to give customers the chance to buy bitcoin through a new feature known as Post Billpay. This feature is offered at more than 3,500 post offices across the country.
At the time of writing, the Australian post office system will allow users to purchase BTC and other digital assets with both cash and credit cards through bitcoin.com.au, a crypto exchange situated in Cremorne, Victoria. The exchange’s CEO Holger Arians explained in a statement:
This is a major milestone for digital currency in Australia and around the world. It proves that there are established businesses and organizations that want to learn about new technologies by doing and not by blocking… Our mission is to make bitcoin safe and easy for every Australian. For many people, paying for bitcoin at an Australia Post office feels safer than transferring funds online – particularly for first-time buyers.
The post office now basically serves as the country’s own, personal bitcoin ATM system. Users can just walk in and buy their cryptocurrency conveniently and without hassle in the same way that they would post a letter or choose to send or receive a package. This is also more proof that bitcoin is becoming much more mainstream and legitimate, and that customers are eager to get their fingers on digital assets.
Australia Post has been around for over 200 years, originally being established in the year 1809. Originally, Australia Post was a private industry, but has since grown to serve as one of the largest mailing systems in the Outback. The original postmaster when the system was established was former convict Issac Nichols.
A New Way to Buy Crypto
Susan Nicholson – head of business and government financial services to Australia Post – mentioned in a statement:
Australia Post has, for a long time, played an important role in the community to make services accessible to all. Post Billpay has been one of Australia’s most trusted bill payment methods for over 20 years, and we’re pleased to now provide the ability for bitcoin bills to be paid at a post office, which will come with a product enhancement that offers ID verification and real-time bill payment confirmation back to the biller.
Per the Australian Taxation Office, anywhere between 500,000 and one million people in Australia own bitcoin or other digital currencies. Bitcoin.com.au says it is looking to boost this number and push it through the roof in the coming weeks thanks to the new purchasing options it’s providing.