From its Nanny State low-alcohol beer to its Lone Wolf micro-distillery, innovation has always been at the heart of BrewDogs business plan.
Perhaps its no surprise then that the Aberdeenshire-based brewery is also among the first to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
When the companys bar at Canary Wharf in London opened last year, it accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash as forms of payment for beer, pizza and other delicacies. Then, in July this year, the firm revealed that investors would be able to buy shares in the business in cryptocurrency when it extended the latest round of its Equity for Punks scheme until April next year.
The brewer even produced a beer to mark the occasion which has been named Cryptonite West Coast India Pale Ale with each shareholder who pays with a cryptocurrency receiving six cans.
Currencies accepted as payment in the Equity for Punks programme range from the well-known Bitcoin and its Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV incarnations through to the rather more exotic-sounding Ethereum, Litecoin, OmiseGO, Qtum, Augur, XRP and 0x.
Its all a long way from the firms original brewery in a workshop in Fraserburgh.
For the utterly uninitiated, cryptocurrencies are digital forms of payment that are not linked to any kind of physical coin or note. Pull up a bar stool to find out more
Cryptocurrencies are kept in digital wallets online, computers, smartphones or on other devices and are used to pay for products and services on the internet or, as BrewDog illustrates, a growing array of options in the physical world. They can also be transferred directly between users instead of passing through a central bank or other authority.
The advantage is that they dont necessarily attract transaction fees. The downside is that theyre not regulated, controlled or backed-up by a central bank or government body, so if theyre stolen there is no safety net for recovering the money thats been lost.
As the name suggests, cryptocurrencies use very secure forms of cryptography to record who owns bitcoins and for making payments between users. Transactions are recorded on a public log or distributed ledger like a giant online spreadsheet.
The ledger is known as a blockchain because transactions are grouped together into blocks and then linked to each other in long chains, with each block containing a reference to the previous block. Its very hard to tamper with a distributed ledger like this it makes such a system secure, but also expensive because of the computing power involved.
There are thousands of cryptocurrencies available on the internet, but the first and still the best known is Bitcoin. Bitcoins are created using a technique known as mining, in which participants or miners are paid using bitcoins for validating the transactions by solving complicated mathematical puzzles using powerful computers.
BrewDog isnt the only real-world entity to start taking cryptocurrencies seriously. Earlier this year,
global accountancy firm PwC launched software for auditing such technology.
It is important as companies continue to digitise that we, as auditors, keep up with technology changes in the market, continue to develop audit tools that meet the needs of emerging technologies and serve the changing and developing demands of our stakeholders, says James Chalmers, global assurance leader at PwC.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has also issued guidance over how cryptocurrencies need to be treated for income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax.
While HMRC does not view them as money, it pointed out that the tax treatment of all types of tokens is dependent on the nature and use of the token and not the definition of the token.
The taxman and accountancy firms have turned their attention to online currencies because many people are using them as investments. Yet cryptocurrencies have proved to be unpredictable.
The Bank of England has likened the movements of Bitcoin to a rollercoaster. The value of one bitcoin hit a record high of 16,639.47 in December 2017, but now sits at around half that value.
Its price can be hit by anything from media hype through to proposed government regulations of cryptocurrencies.
In January this year, South Koreas justice minister warned his administration might ban cryptocurrency trading on its domestic exchanges, which sent Bitcoins price falling by almost $2,000 in a single day.
The Bank of England illustrated Bitcoins volatility by comparing its 65 per cent one-day rise and 25 per cent single-day fall to the pound, which fell by 7 per cent on the day after the Brexit referendum, and to the price of oil, which hasnt fluctuated by more than 10 per cent in a single day.
Nevertheless, Stephen Ingledew, chief executive of FinTech Scotland, thinks that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. A lot of the heat and the frothiness has gone and we are going back to the real debate about whether there is a better way to have that exchange of value, he says. Its about designing a different future, and cryptocurrency has a part to play but its not clear exactly what that is yet.
Cryptocurrencies continue to be in governments sights; last month, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire revealed plans to ban Facebooks Libra currency over concerns that it poses a threat to the sovereignty of national currencies. Politicians worry that the social network which has some two billion users worldwide has too much influence to control an online currency.
Its important to remember that this isnt the first time Facebook has tried to enter the financial space; in fact, theyve had numerous failed attempts before, says Danny Scott, chief executive at CoinCorner, which provides digital wallets for cryptocurrencies.
Unfortunately, it just so happens that this time theyve launched into an emerging industry that receives global attention and the result is that theyve managed to gain momentum with this project.
We understand that it can be confusing to the public as to why a cryptocurrency concept such as Libra can be banned, whereas it would be much harder to ban an actual cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. Its important to remember the difference between the two; Libra is completely controlled by a single entity Facebook and Bitcoin is not, as the control lies with the everyday people using it.
This is called decentralisation and is one of the fundamental features of Bitcoin that make it unique. We expect to see this ban having somewhat of a domino effect, with more countries following suit to ban Libra over the coming months.
This article first appeared in The Scotsmans Talking Money 2019 supplement.
Go here to see the original:
Talking Money: The rise and fall and rise again of cryptocurrencies - The Scotsman
- Bitcoin Cash: Why It's Forking the Blockchain And What That ... - January 26th, 2018 [January 26th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash (BCH) - January 29th, 2018 [January 29th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash Definition | Investopedia - January 31st, 2018 [January 31st, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash: The New King of Cryptocurrency? | Investopedia - January 31st, 2018 [January 31st, 2018]
- What is Bitcoin Cash? - January 31st, 2018 [January 31st, 2018]
- Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash: What's the Difference ... - February 12th, 2018 [February 12th, 2018]
- Why Bitcoin Cash Is Not Bitcoin [BTC vs. BCH - Differences ... - March 24th, 2018 [March 24th, 2018]
- What is Bitcoin Cash | Learn about Bitcoin Cash - June 21st, 2018 [June 21st, 2018]
- What is Bitcoin Cash? BCH vs Bitcoin | CoinCentral - July 6th, 2018 [July 6th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash (BCC) : Everything You need to know about ... - July 22nd, 2018 [July 22nd, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 20/07/18 - July 29th, 2018 [July 29th, 2018]
- What is Bitcoin Cash? - cointelegraph.com - July 29th, 2018 [July 29th, 2018]
- How to Claim Your Bitcoin Cash and Sell it for Bitcoin ... - August 2nd, 2018 [August 2nd, 2018]
- Robinhood Adds Bitcoin Cash & Litecoin Trading, Will ... - September 18th, 2018 [September 18th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash (BCH) - reddit - October 7th, 2018 [October 7th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash (BCC) price, rating, news, and analysis ... - November 1st, 2018 [November 1st, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash | The best Bitcoin can be. - November 1st, 2018 [November 1st, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Price, Chart, Info | CoinGecko - November 19th, 2018 [November 19th, 2018]
- 'Real Risk': Blockstream Exec Warns Over Bitcoin Cash 51 ... - November 19th, 2018 [November 19th, 2018]
- Is Bitcoin ABC Really Winning the Bitcoin Cash "Hash War ... - November 19th, 2018 [November 19th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash: ABC Futures Cross $300 in Hard Fork Aftermath - November 19th, 2018 [November 19th, 2018]
- Top 11 Best Bitcoin Cash Wallets (BCH) to Store Bitcoin Cash ... - November 19th, 2018 [November 19th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash vs. Bitcoin | The Pros and Cons - CoinCentral - December 27th, 2018 [December 27th, 2018]
- Bitcoin Cash is 41.7% Up, Will the Upside Momentum Sustain? - December 27th, 2018 [December 27th, 2018]
- Bitmain Fires Entire Bitcoin Cash Development Team: Report - December 31st, 2018 [December 31st, 2018]
- Best Bitcoin Cash Wallets (BCH): Free Money For Every ... - March 21st, 2019 [March 21st, 2019]
- Litecoin & Bitcoin Cash Fuel Staggering $33 Billion Crypto Rally - April 9th, 2019 [April 9th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Has Nearly Doubled Since Monday - forbes.com - April 9th, 2019 [April 9th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin And Dogecoin Bulls Aim Higher Despite ... - April 9th, 2019 [April 9th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash, Tron (TRX), BNB, LTC & EOS Could Continue To ... - April 9th, 2019 [April 9th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Futures Volumes: A Prelude to the Recent BCH ... - April 20th, 2019 [April 20th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Downside Thrust Underway Before Sharp ... - April 20th, 2019 [April 20th, 2019]
- SBI Delists Bitcoin Cash | Keeps Support for Bitcoin SV - April 20th, 2019 [April 20th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash: Where BCH Stands the Day after the Hard Fork - April 20th, 2019 [April 20th, 2019]
- Crypto Market Near Turning Point: BNB Up 10%, Bitcoin Cash ... - April 20th, 2019 [April 20th, 2019]
- Crypto Market Wrap: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Leading $6 Billion Surge - May 9th, 2019 [May 9th, 2019]
- Crypto Investing in the 2020s - FXStreet - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- Latest cryptocurrency news and prices, 16 October 2019 - The South African - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- More than 87% of Global Virtual Asset Trading Now Traceable with CipherTrace - Business Wire - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- More than 87 per cent of global virtual asset trading now traceable with CipherTrace - HedgeWeek - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Price and Analysis Will the Bulls Maintain the Unbeatable Trend? - NullTX - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- Ex-CEO of Google Africa: Bitcoin a Gift That Will Change Humanity - Cointelegraph - October 18th, 2019 [October 18th, 2019]
- 10 of the Best Telegram Crypto Channels - Bitcoin News - October 18th, 2019 [October 18th, 2019]
- Coinbase, Cash App, Remain Top Rated Places To Easily Buy Bitcoin - newsBTC - October 18th, 2019 [October 18th, 2019]
- The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers -16/10/19 - Yahoo Finance - October 18th, 2019 [October 18th, 2019]
- CipherTrace adds support for over 700 crypto assets, including bitcoin cash, ether and tether - Yahoo Finance - October 18th, 2019 [October 18th, 2019]
- Binance.US Allowed USA Users To Buy Bitcoin with Debit Cards - Bitcoinik - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin and Altcoins Sighting Next Significant Break - Cryptonews - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Anonymous Bitcoin Price Prediction Finally Poised to Fail - BeInCrypto - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitwage Allows Companies in the EU, UK and US to Pay Wages in Bitcoin Cash - Inside Bitcoins - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Price Changed by -2.38 percent - ICO Brothers - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers -01/11/19 - Yahoo Finance - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Retraces and Attempts to Retest the Previous High of $300 - Coin Idol - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash more vulnerable to timestamp manipulation than Bitcoin: BitMEX Research - AMBCrypto - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash, NEO and XRP Price Prediction and Analysis for October 29th - NullTX - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash First Halving Countdown Begins, To Happen in May 2020 - Coinpedia - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- The resolution of the Bitcoin Cash experiment - CoinGeek - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash's Q3 performance was horrid here's what happened - The Next Web - November 2nd, 2019 [November 2nd, 2019]
- Bitcoin and Altcoins Topside Bias Vulnerable - Cryptonews - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Price Changed by -0.4 percent - ICO Brothers - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- SoFi gets New York BitLicense, set to offer crypto trading in the state - Decrypt - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Bitcoin and Altcoins Gaining Bearish Momentum - Cryptonews - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Price Changed by -0.01 percent - ICO Brothers - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Price Changed by -1.04 percent - ICO Brothers - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 04/12/19 - Yahoo Finance - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Moon Cash | Free bitcoin cash faucet - December 4th, 2019 [December 4th, 2019]
- Altcoin apocalypse the dramatic fall of XRP, Bitcoin Cash and ZEC - Born2Invest - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers -07/12/19 - Yahoo Finance - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Bitcoin's bumpy revolution may be only just beginning - The Independent - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Early BTC Investor Roger Ver Says Bitcoin Cash Set to Skyrocket A Thousand Times From Where It Is Now - The Daily Hodl - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis - Will The Uptrend Continue Above $212? - KryptoMoney - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Award-Winning Bay Area Nonprofit Now Accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum Donations through BitPay - Send2Press Newswire - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Understanding the distribution of the crypto market: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Cardano - FXStreet - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Open Positions Report: Where's the money in the crypto market? Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash - FXStreet - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis: BCH/USD ruthless bears gnaw the price towards $200 - FXStreet - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Bounces, a Move above $227 Increases the Prospect of a Rally - Coin Idol - December 7th, 2019 [December 7th, 2019]
- Rebranded Localcryptos Lets You Cash Out BTC Peer to Peer Minus the Hassle of KYC - Bitcoin News - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]
- BCH Price Momentum Astounds the Traders Overnight - NameCoinNews - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]
- Bitcoin.com Update: Dev Fund Proposal 'Will Not Go Through' Without More Agreement - Bitcoin News - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]
- Developers Say Google Play Unfairly Booted Their Bitcoin Rewards Game - CoinDesk - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]