According to Europe 1, tobacco shops in France will be able to sell bitcoin coupons. The French shops are known as “Tabacs” and will start selling the coupons from the 1st of January 2019.

Selling bitcoins throughout France

The Tobacco shops all over France are now authorised to sell cryptocurrencies starting first thing next year. The Central Bank issues the authorisation, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (Autorité de contrôle prudential et de résolution – ACPR). ACPR is the institution charged with monitoring the transactions performed by banks and insurance companies in France.

The Tobacco shops will be able to sell prepaid bitcoin tickets. In the beginning, 3,000 – 4,000 shops will be equipped with software, allowing the direct purchase of these coupons. The coupons will represent different values: 50, 100 or 250 euros.

An agreement was also signed by the company Bimedia, who will be the provider of the software. KeplerK is a cryptocurrency exchange who will help the Tobacco shops to offer the digital assets. The consumers can essentially buy the coupons and then exchange them for bitcoins, ethereum or other cryptocurrencies on KeplerK’s website. Today, the cryptocurrency exchange have over 10,000 points of sale and over 27,000 operators around the globe.

Cryptocurrency and bitcoin adoption moves forward

Even though the price of cryptocurrencies is highly volatile, the cryptocurrency adoption is moving forward. Philippe Coy, the president of the Confederation of tobacconists, believes that allowing tobacconists to sell bitcoins is a way to modernise the business. He added: “It brings us closer to modern times of consumption, and brings us closer to the consumers.”

The supervisor ACRP has validated the process of buying bitcoins for a simple reason: “There is no choice. Cryptocurrency is becoming a global currency, and it is better to accompany this inevitable movement as well as market and consumer demand.”

Not only tobacconists might drive adoption in 2019 since several other happenings might help increase the awareness of cryptocurrencies. Bakkt announced recently that they had postponed the launch of their platform to January 2019. However, Bakkt will still launch its bitcoin daily futures contract by December 12th which will be backed by physical bitcoins. Another interesting news is that the largest department store in Venezuela has started to accept cryptocurrencies and bitcoin as payments. There are 49 stores in Venezuela and many regards these as the “Wall-Mart” of the South American country.

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