Bitcoin Bringing QR Codes Back?

Everyone is talking about bitcoins, litecoins and all sorts of crypto-currency and just today I purchased my first bitcoins here in KW. Not a alot. Just worth CAD 100.

I realize I jumped to the party a little late. I first heard about bitcoins in January perhaps? They were still at around $80. I found a couple of exchanges selling bitcoins but their process was so complicated and resistive that I gave up. They required me to send physical cash through the mail and then wait for a week or two till they received it. After which they would proceed to send me bitcoins to my wallet.

Hell no.

Another exchange was open to depositing CAD with them to buy bitcoins. But they required verification by uploading my drivers license and utility bills.

Seems too fishy.

Then came CoinBase but they only operate within the US with US banks and that was a quick bust.

I had almost given up when bitcoin value hit $1000. Better late then never I thought so I found a local seller on Local Coin and setup a meet.

Trevor who is running a small bitcoin startup out of the velocity garage met me at a local coffee shop. He explained that that the cafe we were sitting at had just been signed up by his startup to be a reseller. Would I mind being a beta tester? (I am not affiliated with the startup in any way)

Of-course not!

I put on a smile and walked to the counter and asked to buy some bitcoins. I handed over my cash, the cashier pulled out her iPhone. She opened a an app & I pulled up my wallet’s QR code on my phone. A quick scan and it was done.

Just like that.

That got me thinking what if I was buying my coffee like that instead of bitcoins? Easy enough to imagine, just substitute ‘bitcoin’ for ‘coffee’ while imagining the interaction in your head as you read those lines.

QR codes have been around for a couple of years now and NFC a shorter while but both technologies have not seen that traction they expected with the consumer market. QR codes have been scattered around and become a joke in some sense. I have a history with NFC (Not too long ago, I wanted to build an NFC based business card exchange app which is now defunct). Could bitcoins be the answer? Starbucks uses a QR code for their loyalty app already though I have only people use it a handful of time while observing (not a good sample size)

So what if bitcoins are the answer? QR Codes and NFC can and should ride the bitcoin wave as a technology. Rightly so. Bitcoins are a digital currency making paper currency defunct. QR Codes and NFC offer an almost frictionless experience in this context (Trust me you don't want to type in someone’s wallet address). If they pick up in the near future and I can buy a morning coffee and bagel with bitcoins, I would happily tap & scan my phone. That is if the banks don’t start offering bitcoin accounts and Debit Cards, which is unlikely.

Can bitcoins make QR codes sexy again? Is bitcoin where mobile payments is heading? Perhaps even help NFC get more mainstream beyond Visa/MasterCard PayPass?

Just some questions to ponder upon.