We have been visiting Tirana,Albania these last few weeks. We have really loved our time here. When i arrive in a place i often look at maps in Satelite form. I can get a feel of the size of a place, the terain and you can often spot interesting things in the city, like parks, public pools and tennis courts, as i like visiting a park and swimming, as well as playing tennis with the kids.
I also like the ‘search nearby’ funcion.
I wanted to see if i could find a place that accepted Bitcoin. As i knew if they accepted BTC i could use v4v to use my HBD.
So i just typed Bitcoin into my map and searched nearby. 2 places popped up, and they were both within 500 meters of me and both were cafe’s.
One if the places called New Bitcoin Bar was within 3 blocks of our apartment, such luck.
So i popped over. The place had Bitcoin murals and artwork all over. Cool, they had a new customer for my time in Tirana with how close they were. 😎
So i go up to the counter and ask. ‘Whats the association to Bitcoin here’. The guy says ‘No’
Me a bit puzzled, ‘your name… why are you called ‘New Bitcoin Bar’
He holds up his international i dont understand english but ‘wait’ finger and heads out into the next room.
A different guy returns and says abruptly without even a hello ‘You cant pay with Bitcoin’
‘Umm, i asked about why the place was naned New Bitcoin Bar’
‘That was last owner, i didnt want to paint and change everything, but bitcoin is ilegal in Albania’.
The dude seemed pretty irritated that i was asking him anything about bitcoin.
‘Thats a shame, but how would they know?’
‘We need real money, not bitcoin, what can i do with bitcoin.’
I mean the guy was becoming actually hostile. I had come to his place specifically because of the name and now the dude was hating on bitcoin.
‘I spend bitcoin all the time, i would have here if you accepted’
‘I can do nothing with bitcoin, people here in Albania are poor, we need real money’
Lol, it was clear this conversation wasnt leading anywhere, so i just said, ‘In the next 10 years we will see, bitcoin will be everywhere and worth a lot more than ‘real money’ from any country.
‘I need money now, not in 10 years’
Yeah, clearly this guy needed to invest in some paint and change the name of his cafe.
🤦♂️
Well im a persitent guy and there was another spot not so far away called Bitcoin Caffe. Surely id have better luck there right?
I followed the map and found a location being remodeled! Ffs, cant get a break.
I had worn my Hive hat and was planning to make the purchase with v4v and explain after to the casheir how i had earned the money to pay for the coffee through blogging!
Bummer for me and Bitcoin!
It was fine though, i still found a nice place to have capuchino.
So now we move to a few days later and im looking for a place to play tabke tennis with my boy. I spot what seems perfect.
So off we go into the city. Not the easiest spot to find and a good distance from our apartment, but honestly Tirana is a nice city for walking around so no biggie.
We get there and again the walls are plastered with people playing ping pong in photos and a big mural.
But where are the tables???
They had been taken out to out coffee tables because not enough people played table tennis.
@thebombkids was not a happy camper.
It was ok, later that same day i found a private club and we got him some lessons.
But what is the deal with people advertising for a thing they dont have or even don’t support 🤪
I'll have an HBD coffee with you when you come by Guat City. We'll make a video and everything.
No false advertising.
Haha, deal, it’s an HBD + v4v date ❤️
😂
i can actually imagine the scene. he has no time to renovate and change stuff on the internet 😂
Yes, dude was grumpy AF and acted like explaining how he hates bitcoin gets tiring… why do all these 100’s idiots keep showing up at my cafe because of Bitcoin… 🤦♂️
😂
On the bright side... later on you would have been like,Dang... I have paid almost 100$ for a coffee in Tirana..😎😉
True… I remember buying things when bitcoin was at 3000$, not fully trusting I could use it… I bought a camera stabilizer for 75$ that now means I paid well over 1000$ for that dumb tool I no longer use 🤦♂️
How weird. I guess the people of Albania know to see past advertising.
Ha, yeah, and maybe not many people are looking for ping pong and bitcoin. 😉
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Oh man how annoying and disappointing despite your persistent efforts to find places that accept crypto over there. I admire your determination dude I'm just sorry it didn't pay off on this occasion. But as we know Bitcoin is becoming more and more recognised and accepted as legal tender by more places than ever now, you'll get lucky at some stage.
I am curious what is v4v, is that some sort of app that can convert HBD into BTC for retail purchases or something?
By the way your boy has some serious table tennis skill there, that playing looks like potential professional player in the making.
V4V is one of the most useful tools on hive in my view. It gives you the ability to use your hive or hbd earnings at anyplace that accepts btc or lighting network. Its like a bridge, as many places accept bitcoin but would never accept hive, but this tool bridges it and the location doesn’t need know that your are actually using your blog earnings…though i tend to make a point of telling them and sharing about hive.
Cool thing is it is connected to your hive wallet that you can easily link to via keychain signing into V4V and you can also use it as a wallet for lightning network, and store smaller ammount of Sats there, you can use it to receive payments to if you have a store or bar. He also created a way to put the local currency into the field so that if your buying a coffee or something say in Guatemala, you can put the price for GTQ in and it translates prices. You can see the GTQ in the photo.
Not enough people realize about this tool. I think its a powerful connection this btc to hive bridge.
Thanks for saying that about my son. He really is good, he wants to be the champion in his age bracket this coming year. Last year he got 5th in Guatemala City. So as we are traveling around, im always trying to find places for him to train.
I had no idea that this app existed for Hive, this is awesome. It's exactly what we need if we want to go out there and use our Hive for retail spending. Lots of places now accept BTC but obviously not Hive but this bridge is ideal. Is it a mobile app only? And where do we get it?
Even though I am focusing on vesting all my Hive and have now actually set all my posts to 100% HP on payout I have no need for liquid Hive or HBD, but I can see how valuable the V4V tool is to many Hivians. When it comes to spending crypto I now have a Coinbase Visa debit card. But should I ever get to a position where I want to spend my Hive or HBD I will try and use this app. Does it take a commission for each transaction?
.03 hbd fee for transaction.
Yeah, I’m similar that in general I’m not trying to spend my earning and just power up.
But I find it makes a great post showing the tool in action and helps spread the word about it. All while giving onboarding discussion with servers or anyone near.
I find I earn the hbd rewards back on the post anyway as hive loves a hive tool share 😎
Wins all around
And yeah, it’s easiest to use on phone, but available on laptop too. Though scanning is easier with a phone.
You have the Keychain app on phone already correct?
Just sign into v4v.app in the browser on keychain.
And bobs your uncle 💪🏼
https://peakd.com/hive-181335/@buttcoins/xukkfhqt