Strategic Partnerships Fuel Bitcoin Adoption in Taiwan

December 3, 2015 By: Michael Cheng

Bitcoin adoption is on the rise in Taiwan, thanks to local collaborations between bitcoin companies and retail establishments.

FamilyMart, a leading convenience store brand, now accepts the digital currency with the help of BitoEX, a bitcoin wallet service provider. Through the agreement, customers can pay for purchases using bitcoin in over 3,000 branches across the country.

“There are more and more users of our bitcoin wallet now, but the market in Taiwan is still small, and it’s still growing,” said Rica Chiang, deputy general manager at BitoEX. “Since last year [FamilyMart] saw a growing number of bitcoin sales. That’s why they were cautiously thinking about accepting bitcoin to see if it there’s a bigger market out there.”

To use funds from a BitoEX wallet, individuals are required to convert their bitcoins into cash coupons through a FamiPort kiosk. The terminal services basic transactions from payments for parking ticket fines to electricity and water bills.

The partnership officially launched last October. Since then, roughly 500 transactions have been recorded by the firm.

At the moment, the group has a thriving base of 40,000 active users with a healthy annual growth rate of 30 percent. Surprisingly, around 40 percent of its customers are gamers who indulge in online purchases from Steam, Big Fish, PokerStart and other international gaming platforms.

Gamers usually head over to FamilyMart to grab a quick snack and purchase in-app credits. For those without access to credit cards, bitcoin provides the best solution for hassle-free payments in Taiwan.

“We noticed a lot of transactions taking place in the middle of the night, so we were curious. We found out they were gamers. Sometimes they say, ‘Please give me bitcoin, I’m in a hurry – I’m in the middle of a game!’,” explained Chiang.