Digital currency mobile payment business Bizkey has launched Token Day in Singapore in celebration of the 10th anniversary of cryptocurrency.
While the name may be a misnomer – the ‘day’ actually runs from October 31 to November 18 – the campaign aims to familiarise the public with cryptocurrency in a retail setting. During the period, 30 Chinatown-area retailers will accept various cryptocurrencies as payment. The public can use Bizkey’s intelligent blockchain point-of-sale (POS) device to pay with various cryptocurrencies including Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Aelf coin (ELF) and Zilliqa coin (ZIL) at participating retailers.
The retailers include Koryo Mart and Hotel 1887. The majority are Chinese food and beverage outlets.
Ken Huang, Bikey’s co-founder and CEO, said that although cryptocurrency was first invented 10 years ago, few people in the world have the chance to actually use it to buy products and services.
“We want to change this through Token Day, which will be the first time that retailers in Singapore will accept cryptocurrency as payment, on such a large scale. In Singapore, we estimate there are about 10,000 to 15,000 people who own cryptocurrency, who are likely to be tech-savvy males in their mid-20s to early 40s. We hope these individuals and the wider public will be keen to try out the novelty of being amongst the pioneering cryptocurrency spenders in Singapore.”
Singapore has been a cryptocurrency focus since the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued guidelines in November last year differentiating between security tokens, a tokenised form of equity, and utility tokens, a tokenised coupon representing prepaid access to a product or service. According to PwC, there were 56 Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) which closed in Singapore in the first five months of this year, raising over US$1 billion, comparing well to 35 ICOs raising $641 million last year. Despite the thriving blockchain startup ecosystem, Singapore has not yet seen widespread cryptocurrency payment adoption among local merchants.
However, cryptocurrency is thought to have the potential to revolutionise the retail sector by tackling problems such as payment fraud, money transfer delays, logistics, and accounting.
With Token Day, Bizkey aims to bring retail merchants into the digital era by demonstrating the ease, convenience, and security of accepting cryptocurrency. Bringing cryptocurrencies to the masses is in line with Singapore’s Smart Nation efforts and bid to become a fintech hub.
