Slovenia opens first ‘Bitcoin City’

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Slovenia, one of the smallest countries in the European Union is certainly not resting on its laurels when it comes to the blockchain and crypto currency space. In fact, the tiny nation, nestled between Italy and Croatia with a wonderful topography that includes the Julian Alps and lush green forests has come up with the idea of the first ‘Bitcoin City’ just outside of the capital in Ljubljana.

The huge former shopping destination stretches over a massive 475,000 square metres and has over 500 retail stores. The complex dubbed ‘BTC City’ also received a boost of late when the country’s outgoing Prime Minister, Miro Cerar visited the site. He added a certain common touch to proceedings by buying a cup of coffee using a cryptocurrency payment gateway. Ljubljana has always been at the forefront of internet and communication technology and boasts a host of start-ups as well as other innovative schemes to make it one of the top tech cities in Europe. This new complex will undoubtedly make it go places as the adoption of cryptocurrency continues to spread.

The BTC City is the concept of a fintech start-up called Eligma which has created an innovative point of sale system to convert the shopping complex into a veritable BTC city. In a statement, Eligma explained that the complex is a business and shopping ecosystem which is based on the latest technological solutions which include blockchain, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies.

Describing the Prime Minister’s visit, Eligma said that the purpose was to open the Beyond 4.0 international conference which is dedicated to the digital society and blockchain. The purpose of the conference was also to get acquainted with BTC’s strategy to become a Bitcoin city.

Incidentally, the Bitcoin City is an ideal opportunity for the propagation of Bitcoin Cash as a payment gateway since it is basically the only form of Bitcoin that can be accepted as payment in a seamless manner. In fact, the first successful use of the Elipay wallet was made in April through cryptocurrency and the app will also be adding Bitcoin Cash as well as its own token as a payment method in the not too distant future.

The Bitcoin city has a long history and was founded way back in 1954 as a warehouse and logistics enterprise. In 1990, the complex became a shopping centre and over time it added other commercial real estate including a hotel, a sports complex, a casino, waterpark and cinema. It is by far the largest shopping centre in Europe with over 500 outlets.