A flashmob #takemybitcoin is happening in Ukraine. The participants encourage restaurant and cafe owners to start accepting bitcoin for payments.

The flashmob started in Kiev, where bitcoin enthusiasts have been visiting restaurants, leaving their suggestions to the owners, and posting reports on Instagram. Another city, Odessa, joined the flashmob this week.

“The project #takemybitcoin suggests visiting a place and asking whether bitcoins are accepted there as payment. If the answer is no, you ask for a comments book and leave a good review of the restaurant with an advice to start accepting bitcoins,” the initiator of the flashmob Oles Slobodenuk said.

Then the photo of the review must be posted on Instagram with a hashtag #takemybitcoin and an indication of the city and the restaurant's name and address.

Slobodenuk is the founder of the service 2show.mobi, an online shop that sells cinema and theatre tickets for bitcoins via BitPay. Besides that, he owns the first grocery shop in Ukraine that accepts bitcoins.

In 2013 Slobodenuk launched a project to design 'Smart Heat', a water boiler based on the blockchain technology. The last updated version of the invention was released in August 2015.

A recent bitcoin conference in Kiev revealed a growing interest of the Ukranian fintech sector to cryptocurrencies. The National regulator announced that it was going to integrate digital money into the financial system of Ukraine.

Today, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a warning to banks and other players on the payments market about the risks of using digital currencies. The regulator confirms that they are monitoring the development of cryptocurrencies and welcomes the arrival of new members at the market. However, the statement says, the safety of payments is the bank's priority.

Aliona Chapel