Our previous Cincinnati Bitcoin Meetup was held at Groove Coffee House in the Mainstrasse Village on Thursday, Jan 23.

Shop owner Pete Koufoudakis says he was skeptical at first but upon meeting all the interesting people at the Bitcoin Meetup he saw things with a new perspective. “I don’t think it (Bitcoin) is going away,” he tells me. Shortly after our meetup, Pete contacted BitPay, Inc. a payment processor for Bitcoin and set up his own account. He can now accept Bitcoin from customers and have US Dollars deposited into his merchant checking account the very next day. “I love the flexibility of taking it,” he proclaims.

He says his ultimate goal is to create a vibrant Bitcoin economy in the Mainstrasse Village. The inspiration for this goal comes from the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, Germany. Kreuzberg has the highest Bitcoin adoption rate in the world; almost all the merchants in the area have integrated Bitcoin.

For Pete, Bitcoin represents freedom and he loves to see how it pushes back on the legacy banking system. Hopefully we see more business owners in the area begin to embrace Bitcoin.

To learn more about Bitcoin, be sure to sign up for a Bitcoin Meetup. If you are intersted in accepting Bitcoin at your local business, local Cincinnati star-up SimpleCoin, LLC may be able to help.

Be sure to check out the next Cincinnati Bitcoin Meetup taking place February 13 at 6:30pm at the Firehouse Subs on Calhoun Street in Clifton!