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Topic: Hong Kong in biggest ever Bitcoin giveaway celebrating Chinese New Year (Read 1234 times)

hero member
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BTC: the beginning of stake-based public resources
legendary
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Dumb broad
Great to hear some good Bitcoin news.

Gong Xi Fa Cai
Gong Hey Fat Choy

Lai see dow loi
sr. member
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Great to hear some good Bitcoin news.

Gong Xi Fa Cai
Gong Hey Fat Choy
sr. member
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These will be illegal in mainland China. What will happen if someone sends these vouchers to some Chinese resident?

Why do you think it would be illegal in china? I just got an email from BTC China saying that various vendors in China are selling vouchers that can be used on the BTC-China site. I haven't tried buying any but it doesn't sound too different.
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1219
These will be illegal in mainland China. What will happen if someone sends these vouchers to some Chinese resident?
hero member
Activity: 906
Merit: 1034
BTC: the beginning of stake-based public resources
As a collector of all things to do with weird currencies and Bitcoin how does one get ahold of one of these lucky pockets? Used is fine.
hero member
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http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/world/article/hong-kong-in-biggest-ever-bitcoin-giveaway

Hong Kongers snapped up HK$500,000 (RM215,412) in Bitcoin vouchers today to mark the Lunar New Year in what organisers said was the biggest ever giveaway of the currency – though some were confused about how to use it.

Young women in short skirts handed out 50,000 coupons worth HK$10 around the city all day and into the evening.

Vouchers were tucked into the red envelopes ubiquitous during the new year festival, embossed with the Chinese word for 'luck' in gold.


 
The envelopes –  known as 'lai see' or 'red pocket' –  usually hold cash and are given to family, colleagues and anyone else who deserves a thank you.

Hong Kong Bitcoin exchange ANXBTC said the giveaway was the biggest ever and hoped the 'digital lai see' would be a simple way to introduce Hong Kongers to the currency.

"There's a lot of information out there but for someone who's not so tech savvy it takes some time for them to get into it," ANX chief executive, Ken Lo told AFP.

Recipients scan the voucher's QR code which takes them to a website where they can set up a Bitcoin account just by entering their email, said Lo.

"There hasn't been any fighting because we have a lot (to give away), but there are a lot of people – even in our office they're lining up," said Lo.

But while shoppers in bustling Causeway Bay were happy to get a freebie, many were still confused as to what to do with it.

"I don't know anything about it," said estate agent Chan Wing-fung, 44, who asked an AFP reporter to explain it to him.

"It's not a currency with which I could control my losses or gains," said another recipient, who gave his name as Andrew.

"It's not really useful for me."

Lo admitted the city was 'behind the curve' on the virtual currency.

"There is so much money and big business and finance that people don't need to look anywhere else. They don't need to innovate," he said.

"It needs to get to the level where you walk into 7-11 and you pay the cashier and you get the Bitcoins."

Bitcoin was invented in the wake of the global financial crisis by a mysterious computer guru using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Unlike other currencies, it does not have the backing of a central bank or government. Instead, the units are generated by a complex computer algorithm designed by one or more anonymous people in 2009.

The volatility of its value has drawn criticism and the unregulated currency has also been linked to various kinds of criminal activity. – AFP, January 30, 2014.

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