BILTONG company Jim’s Jerky is believed to be the first business in Brisbane to start taking direct debit payments with Bitcoin.

Users of the digital currency can now swipe a special Coinkite, similar to a regular debit card, to pay for the Queensland company’s high protein products.

Bitcoin enthusiast Matt Tanner, who manages a Jim’s Jerky kiosk in Carindale, said there had been an influx of sales since the Coinkite terminal was installed two weeks ago.

“We’ve seen an immediate surge in interest from people who are involved in the Bitcoin movement ... who are looking for outlets to spend their Bitcoin,” Mr Tanner said.

As far as “bricks and mortar establishments” go, Mr Tanner believes Jim’s Jerky is the only place in Brisbane already accepting Coinkite payments.

He said a “progressive” business approach has taken Jim’s Jerky from its humble beginnings as a butcher shop in the Darling Downs to an international distributor of tasty biltong.

Adopting Bitcoin, a decentralised digital currency which allows peer-to-peer payments to be made online, keeps with their innovative endeavours.

“Everything that we’ve been doing, we’ve been trying to be progressive and Bitcoin fits in well with that,” Mr Tanner said.