The audience had great questions and Vin and Chris provided excellent answers. The over-an-hour-long video is an excellent introduction to some very important concepts with cryptocurrencies. Highly recommended!
Gavin Andresen Visits the Bitcoin Embassy NH (L to R: Gavin Andresen, Mark Edge, Ian Freeman, Chris Rietmann)
Happy tenth birthday Bitcoin! On January 3rd, 2009, Bitcoin’s code was released to the world by Satoshi Nakamoto. To this day, Nakamoto is still anonymous. It is not known whether Nakamoto is a he, she, group of people, or space aliens. However, what is known is that before completely disappearing from public view, Nakamoto turned over the keys to Bitcoin to his chosen successor, libertarian computer programmer Gavin Andresen. Andresen denies being Nakamoto, however he’s one of the most important people in the history of cryptocurrency.
In 2011, Andresen came to Keene for the first time and met with the hosts of a certain libertarian radio show, Free Talk Live, to tell them all about Bitcoin. I am one of the hosts of that show. When we spoke on-air about Bitcoin, Roger Ver, then a successful dealer of computer memory and advertiser on Free Talk Live, was listening. Ver saw the vision and spent tens of thousands of dollars buying Bitcoin (BTC) when it was under $1 each. Today one BTC is worth nearly $4,000. As a result of his early success, investments in multiple Bitcoin-related companies, and his constant advocacy of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a way to undermine the power of the state, Ver became known as “Bitcoin Jesus”.
Corner News’ owner Roberta Mastrogiovanni poses with her store’s Crypto Vending Machine!
Not long after, Ver came to Keene to the local libertarian meetup and gave away 10 BTC to anyone willing to install a bitcoin wallet on their phone. This was when BTC was worth around $1 each.
Keene has always been a cryptocurrency hotspot. Not only have some of the key players been here in physical reality, it’s also arguably the top location in the world for the highest concentration of bitcoin-accepting businesses. Though this year Portsmouth challenged us and for a time had more businesses accepting crypto, Keene has once again surpassed its Seacoast sister city. Plus, Portsmouth excelled in the first place because Keeniac Derrick J Freeman and his partner Steven Zeiler made it happen by launching merchant crypto provider Anypay. Derrick J originally settled in Keene when he moved here as part of the NH Freedom Migration.
Keene’s first business to accept cryptocurrency was the century-old, main street icon Corner News, taking bitcoin all the way back in 2013. Now a variety of businesses including various restaurants and food trucks, a dentist, automotive repair, web design, computer sales, advertising venues, and more all accept multiple cryptocurrencies. Our concentration of crypto-accepting businesses per-capita is higher than anywhere else in the world, that I can find. We handily defeat major cities like San Francisco and New York City by multiple factors.
Street N Savory food truck is the latest business in Keene to accept cryptocurrency!
The Bitcoin Embassy is offering “Bitcoin 101” classes and they’ll schedule one whenever is convenient for you. There is no cost to attend, though donations are encouraged. Get in touch with head ambassador Chris Rietmann through their website at BitNH.me. Though we’re already ten years in, this is still just the beginning. It’s definitely not too late for you to get involved with cryptocurrency. Step one is educating yourself. Bitcoin Embassy NH can help.
Come celebrate the tenth anniversary of Bitcoin today at 2pm at Local Burger, one of Keene’s premier businesses that accepts cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and DASH! If you can’t make it today, join our Meetup group as we meet every six days at various locations in the Keene area.
Perhaps you’ve heard about New Hampshire’s top cities for real-life cryptocurrency use, Keene and Portsmouth. Both small cities are global hotspots where various food and services are available for purchase with Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptos like DASH or Bitcoin Cash (BCH). It’s not random chance that this has happened. The reason these two cities are world capitols for local businesses accepting cryptocurrency at the cash register is because of the New Hampshire Freedom Migration that has been going on for many years.
This month Keene got another boost as an anonymous libertarian cryptocurrency user moved to town and a bunch of us came out to help him move a huge load of stuff into his new home in Keene, Given the love for anonymity of many crypto users, it’s undertstandable why he and some others in the group photo wanted to stay anonymous. The fact is people like this are moving to New Hampshire all the time. Where else will total strangers come help move you into your home?
Another anonymous cryptocurrency user moves to Keene, NH and is helped move-in via strangers who also use crypto.
As has been the tradition with these move-ins over more than a decade, the mover orders pizza and provides refreshments and local libertarian cryptocurrency users show up and help move the person in. This particular move in set a record for most stuff and longest time. Normally we’re done unloading a full size 26-foot moving truck in under an hour. This was six hours of moving stuff in from a series of eight packed-full moving pods that had to be towed in by truck. It was basically a whole day of moving, but this is the level of dedication to this migration these people have. It’s an honor to be part of such a movement.
The ongoing NH Freedom Migration has brought libertarians to New Hampshire in large numbers over the last fifteen years, and libertarians were the ones there at the beginning of Bitcoin. Gavin Andresen, the libertarian programmer chosen as successor by Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is a longtime supporter of my radio show, “Free Talk Live” and even spoke on the Bitcoin panel at 2015’s Keenevention.
People who care about liberty and cryptocurrency have been moving to New Hampshire and Keene has always been an activism hotspot. It’s no wonder that Keene is where the crypto-explosion in New Hampshire began. Portsmouth has risen as a major competitor to Keene as the top crypto city, but that’s just because longtime Keeniac Derrick J Freeman moved to Portsmouth, where he and his partner Steven Zeiler then launched the Free State Bitcoin Shoppe as an epic outreach project. Since then, they’ve recruited dozens of Portsmouth-area businesses into cryptocurrency acceptance and then created the Blockchain Institute for Technology and merchant crypto-acceptance provider Anypay.global.
Since then, both Keene and Portsmouth have become close competitors with Caracas, Venezuela for the highest amount of cryptocurrency-accepting businesses per-capita on the planet.
It’s been in the cryptocurrency news over the last several weeks, but many do not know what the world’s first-ever “Hash War” is all about. Thankfully Bitcoin Embassy New Hampshire is now here and Head Ambassador Chris Rietmann scheduled an event that happened yesterday afternoon to talk about it.
What is the history of the conflict brewing between rival factions of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community, and what might happen in the all out “Hash War” that’s supposedly to begin this morning at just before high noon today (11/15), Eastern time? If you watch the video, you’ll find out all we know:
Chris Rietmann Gives “Bitcoin 101” Class at Bitcoin Embassy NH
Keene, New Hampshire has already established itself as a world leader in real-life businesses accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at their cash register. Now local area cryptocurrency advocates have taken the next step and opened an educational center to help people learn about crypto – the Bitcoin Embassy New Hampshire.
The Bitcoin Embassy NH joins others around the globe, and is the second in the United States. The first Bitcoin Embassy in the US was Atlanta Bitcoin Embassy, which opened earlier this year.
With the goals of education, networking, and inspiration, head ambassador and instructor Chris Rietmann opened the doors to the Bitcoin Embassy NH in October and has already created a “Bitcoin 101” class that is free to take! Though, donations are certainly welcomed if you find the class valuable. Classes are also available for those looking to learn how to accept crypto at their businesses.
The Bitcoin Embassy New Hampshire is open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday and is located inside Route 101 Local Goods at 661 Marlboro St. in Keene, NH.
Of course, the Bitcoin Embassy NH is just the latest development in the area. We already have an active Meetup group with meetings every six days and Telegram chat room, so please connect with either or both of those to join the cryptocurrency community in the Monadnock region.
