Just a few weeks after Portsmouth activists installed a Bitcoin Vending Machine, a fifth NH-based BVM has launched, this one in Concord! Area 23, a bar at 254 N State St (Unit H in the Smokestack Center) is the location of NH’s newest BVM. Area 23 is a newer establishment, having opened its doors in 2015 and it’s been accepting bitcoin from customers as payment from day one.
Longtime Concord liberty activist Kirk McNeil is Area 23’s proprietor. Longtime readers of Free Keene may remember him for making headlines for legalizing nanobreweries in New Hampshire. Kirk said in an interview for Free Keene, “I’m happy to have a location where people can access and utilize alternative currencies and exchange methods.”
Entrepreneur and newer mover David Jurist purchased the Lamassu brand BVM, approached Kirk before anyone else and offered him the opportunity to host the unit at Area 23, given it was already a liberty-and-bitcoin friendly establishment. David told me, “it’s exciting that the capital city of New Hampshire finally has a Bitcoin Vending Machine”. I agree. It’s also timely as one of the state representatives on the “Commission to Study Cryptocurrency” has followed through on her promise to file a bill this year that will ensure bitcoin users do not need to register as “money transmitters”. (more…)
Tuesday morning the saga of UBER Grandma came to a close at Portsmouth district court. Stephanie Franz’ trial was scheduled for seven tickets she’s received since October of 2015 for the horrible crime of driving people places without a government permission slip. Rather than thank her for providing the service of getting drunk people home alive (and stopping them from driving themselves home drunk), the “City of Portsmouth” gang decided to ticket her seven times for a total of $6,500! $500 for the first ticket, $1000 each for the rest.
The city’s argument for threatening the sweet grandmother and other UBER drivers with such ridiculous fines was the claim that more stringent background checks than what UBER provides are necessary to keep passengers safe. However, this argument is obvious garbage, as the city only regulates drivers who charge for their services. If a convicted murderer were to offer rides for free, the regulations wouldn’t apply. Portsmouth’s anti-ride-sharing regulations, passed in Summer of 2015, were created to protect the existing taxi oligopoly. That’s what regulations are really for – not to protect consumers as the government claims, but to protect the established businesses from innovative competition.
Despite the constant attacks by both the police and the cabbies, UBER Grandma was not deterred. She kept driving in civil disobedience to the city’s protectionist ordinances, knowing she had harmed no one, and in fact had helped many people get home safely. She’s a hero for continuing to stand up for her right to do business without asking for permission! (more…)
PORTSMOUTH – Local businesses, bitcoin users, local artists, entrepreneurs, and international travelers rejoice. A diverse set of people are sharing art and talent, health and beauty, and creating community in a new, exciting way.
With the installation of the seacoast’s first ever bitcoin vending machine at the Seacoast Repertory Theater they are dropping their tired old central bank notes into a local bright orange, wall-mounted machine in exchange for bitcoin, cash for the twenty first century.
Dozens of local vendors and some prominent store front businesses are using bitcoin as a backbone of the local economy alongside the federal reserve dollar system. Many businesses are happy to have new, interesting customers who are seeking local places where they can spend the bitcoin they earn doing business online and in person.
Understandably many Portsmouth denizens are cautious toward new technology, especially an evolved form of money, but are surprised how easy it is to use bitcoin like cash. Most often one is astounded that no registration, email, name or identity is required to use bitcoin and participate in the global market economy. All it takes is downloading any one of dozens of free apps from the app store.
Other bitcoin users are excited by the idea of taking responsibility for the money that supports and grows their community, engaging in an international effort to democratize access to money online, or the nearly unlimited access to online shopping of all kinds.
Understandably many Portsmouth denizens are cautious toward new technology, especially an evolved form of money, but are surprised how easy it is to use bitcoin like cash.
Organizers at the Seacoast Rep hope to draw new theater-goes from the growing bitcoin economy, and local bitcoin entrepreneurs are aiming to expose local artists and theater lovers to the world’s best form of money.
Want to opt out of the federal reserve? Want to get ahead of the curve and get in on trade with people from all across the globe?
Head on down to the Seacoast Repertory Theater at 125 Bow St, Portsmouth, NH 03801 and trade in your cash for bitcoin. You can buy theater tickets, or eat brunch at STREET, or do Bikram Yoga, or shop at thousands of online stores.
Support peace and free trade and go check it out. In the mean time tap for iphone or tap for android to get Mycelium, a free, easy to use bitcoin wallet app in under a minute. It’s easy and fun!
Major news from the bitcoin-in-real-life hotspot of the world, Keene, New Hampshire! Now, you can get your car repaired with bitcoin at the award-winning, ASE-certified Wilder Automotive at 384 Washington Stree in Keene. Winner of the Keene Sentinel “Reader’s Choice Award” for Best Local Mechanic of 2015, owner Steven Wilder learned he had multiple customers who were asking about bitcoin. As he looked into it further, he discovered that accepting bitcoin may also get him new business through the door, as the owner of Keene-based Linux computer internet retailer Think Penguin, has said he needs some car repair done and would prefer to give his business to a bitcoin-accepting mechanic.
As stated in the radio ads that Shire BTC has been running on the Peak 101.9, Bitcoin is an international currency, but feels hyper-local. We’ve seen multiple examples of local bitcoin-accepting businesses patronizing each other. Not only do business owners get to keep more from each sale than they do from credit card transactions, but that also means more money staying here in the Keene-area economy, rather than going to megacorporate credit card companies!
Pizza doesn’t get fresher than Little Zoe’s, now available for bitcoin!
Wilder Automotive accepting bitcoin is a major level up for Keene, which until now had several smaller-ticket brick-and-mortar businesses onboard the Keene Bitcoin Network, like Main Street hair salon Moda Suo, gift shop Route 101 Local Goods, and Vietnamese food truck Bon Vivant. The announcment may attract excited bitcoiners from around the region to get their cars and trucks repaired with BTC.
Another established, award-winning Keene business that is now accepting bitcoin at their point-of-sale is Little Zoe’s Take and Bake Pizza, located in the Center at Keene on Gilbo Ave. Originally established several years ago, the unique pizzeria makes each pizza fresh and then you take the pizza home and cook it in your oven! Their delicious pizza is available with a staggering amount of topping configurations and won NH Magazine’s “Best of NH” award for 2013. (more…)
Yesterday, I needed a ride. Looking to test Cell 411’s new “ride hailing” feature, I requested a ride across town, expecting to sit on my hands for the next two hours.
I set the request radius to 15 miles. According to the app, there were 100 drivers within 15 miles.
Within a couple minutes, I received a driver’s offer. It’s a reasonable price, but I don’t immediately accept it.
A minute after that, my neighbor (who lives in my building, across the hallway) undercut that price by $1.
A couple minutes after that, my friend sent a Facebook message: His girlfriend saw my request. She’s not available to drive, but he is. Even though he hadn’t set up the app, he became part of Cell 411’s ride hailing experiment. I got the ride, paid my friend and I even tipped him with a double almond milk latte.
Have you tried hailing a ride with Cell 411 in your area? You may be surprised with the results.
Originally launched in August of 2015, Cell 411 has since been installed 85,000 times, worldwide. Its primary purpose is to connect people with their friends, family, and neighbors in any emergency situation, from being pulled over, to a fire, to medical emergency. At that it’s been an incredible success, and it’s free to use. Now, by adding ride sharing, Cell 411 has gone to the next level. They’ve decentralized ride sharing even moreso than UBER and Lyft and Cell 411 did it without a single dollar from investors or publicity in advance. For those who have been watching Arcade City – Cell 411 has accomplished AC’s original vision while Arcade City’s app doesn’t even have ride sharing yet.
I’ve been a longtime supporter of Arcade City. Arcade City’s founder, Christopher David gave a great keynote speech at the 2015 Keenevention and is a blogger here at Free Keene. In its early days and through the summer I promoted AC on my radio show and became one of the top recruiters. However with the early September release of the current software, I was pretty bummed that ride-sharing was not included, and instead it was just a “game” involving earning and giving “karma points” to other people in the network. It didn’t make sense, especially since Arcade City already had ride-scheduling in their early 2016 app. Obviously the code from the first app could have been included in the September 2016 release and allowed drivers to get started giving people rides immediately.
Good-bye UBER, Cell 411 is here.
Arcade City had succeeded and building incredible buzz by moving operations to Austin, TX after the city council there drove UBER and Lyft out of town with their control-freak regulations. They made a facebook group, (since their old app had been pulled from the Android and Apple stores at this point in anticipation of the September-released app) and attracted 30,000+ participants into the group! The Austin facebook group garnered a bunch of media and even a police raid of the Arcade City offices.
Drivers of UBER and Lyft were understandably interested in Arcade City, which promised an app that would truly decentralize ride sharing. The original vision Chris David had was to cut the corporations out of the picture. No longer would UBER and Lyft (and their imitators) be able to control the drivers. Drivers would be able to set their own rates as well as accepted payment methods – cash, bitcoin, credit card, silver, or whatever. This vision would bring a new level of competition to the transportation business, while making it even harder for governments to target those involved with regulation. (more…)
Other bitcoin users are excited by the idea of taking responsibility for the money that supports and grows their community, engaging in an international effort to democratize access to money online, or the nearly unlimited access to online shopping of all kinds.
