Best Bitcoin Card for Netherlands

The Netherlands is increasingly becoming the hub of crypto currencies. After Mollie, the even bigger payment service Verotel has now added Bitcoin to its program. A former finance minister took part in a national Bitcoin conference sponsored by one of the country’s largest banks. And after Utrecht, Arnhem is now hosting a Bitcoin event on 28 May, where you can pay with the virtual currency in various cafés and restaurants. Not bad.

Dag. The Bitcoiners of the Federal Republic of Germany currently have all sorts of occasions to look astonished at the big lawn west of the Rhine. The Netherlands is becoming more and more a European Bitcoin centre. The large European and global Bitcoin conferences take place in Amsterdam, where BitPay has placed its European headquarters.

National Bitcoin Congress with surprising speakers

Away from the big “Bitcoin 2014”, where the whole Bitcoin world met, the “Nationaal Bitcoin Congres” was also held the week before last. If you look at the homepage, you will find some surprises that show how far the Bitcoin movement has progressed in the Netherlands. For example the sponsors: Besides VOYS Telecom, “dé zakelijke telecomprovider” and the payment service Mollie mainly because of ABM AMRO. This is one of the three largest banks in the Netherlands. Almost even more surprising is the list of speakers: Mark Buitenhek, Global Head Transaction Services of ING Bank – also among the top 3 banks in the country -, Kim Gunnink, responsible for cyber security at De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank, and Jan Kees de Jager, Oud-minister van Financiën (former finance minister).

Wow. In Germany these would be representatives of Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Bundesbank as well as Per Steinbrück. It is said that former Finance Minister de Jager said that he owns Bitcoins himself and likes them, although he is rather sceptical overall.

Still another one, which accepts Bitcoins: Verotel

Now for the second news from the Netherlands. That too is a tough one. Verotel is now also processing Bitcoin payments on request. The announcement goes back to a blog entry from 29 April, but only now made the rounds. As already reported, Mollie, one of the largest payment service providers in the Netherlands, has included Bitcoins in its programme. Valeto is now even bigger with 50,000 customers. As with Mollie, this does not mean that every website that Verotel uses now accepts Bitcoins; but it does mean that the sites can unlock Bitcoins within the existing system they already use. Relatively simple. Whether customers pay with Bitcoins is another question.

Arnhem Bitcoinstad on 28 May: Paying with Bitcoin in 15 cafés and restaurants

Now to the third report from the Netherlands. This could be interesting also for the Bitcoiner at the west edge of Germany: Arnhem, a town near the border near Nijmegen and Kleve with around 150,000 inhabitants, will host the “Arnhem Bitcoinstad” event tomorrow, 28 May. On this day you can exchange cash for Bitcoins at a Bitcoin ATM and then pay with it in 15 cafés and restaurants in the city centre on Nederrijn. The event starts at 6 pm with a short talk about the Bitcoin. The organisers will hold a competition: Those who visit most of the restaurants and pay with Bitcoins will receive some funny Bitcoin merchandising products as well as a 150 Euro voucher for Lieferservice.de.

After The Hague and Utrecht, Arnhem is now the third city in the Netherlands to open an entire quarter to Bitcoin.