Bitcoin Users Can Now Pay Electricity Bills with Bitcoin in Japan

Bitcoin users in Japan can now pay their electric bills with their favourite cryptocurrency and save money as well.

The mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin is growing with time and in Japan, where Bitcoin has official currency status, Bitcoin has just taken another great leap. ResuPress Inc. the company which operates Coincheck, a Bitcoin payment service, has partnered with Mitsuwa Industry Co. Ltd to allow Japanese users to pay utility bills with Bitcoin.

Coincheck Denki (electricity) will be launching in November 2016 and will enable users to pay electric bills with Bitcoin.

Heavy Bitcoin users to save 4-6% on electric bill

Coincheck Denki has two plans on offer for customers. One plan is for light users and the other for heavy users.

We talked to Kagayaki Kawabata, the Business Development Lead at Coincheck about how they plan to classify users.

He says to CoinTelegraph:

“Light users are people who are not still familiar with Bitcoin. With the light user plan, a customer will pay bills with traditional payment methods but will earn Bitcoins every time they make a payment. Heavy users are users who already know about Bitcoins and use Bitcoin as a occasional payment already. With the heavy user plan, people can pay bills with Bitcoin and save 4%~6%.”

Service will roll out in phases

The supplier of Coincheck Denki, E-net Systems, has partnered with Marubeni Power Retail Corporation which has power plants in 17 Japanese locations and a background of operating electrical businesses in more than 22 nations.

We asked about where in Japan the Coincheck Denki service will be available and learnt from Kagayaki Kawabata that currently it will only be in the Kanto, Kansai and Chibu regions. It is noteworthy that Kanto and Kansai are the major centers of population in Japan and include key cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

Potential user base can expand

One of the key questions of interest is actually who will use this service and why? In Japan there is a culture of high cash usage and people often pay bills at convenience stores rather than doing so online or by other means.

However Kagayaki Kawabata exudes confidence that there is a potential for the user base to increase.

He notes:

“We are planning to attain 10,000 users in the first year. Considering there are more than 35,000 users just in Coincheck, we believe this number is achievable. Also, there was a demand from expats in Japan wishing to pay their  utility bills with Bitcoin.”

More utilities will accept Bitcoin in Japan

While it will now soon be possible to pay your electric bill with Bitcoin in Japan, there is hope that in the future Bitcoin users will be also be able to pay their gas, water and mobile bills using the cryptocurrency.

This is great news as it showcases that Bitcoin is as good, if not better, than using conventional cash and also that if mainstream companies want they can give people the choice to use a payment method of their choosing.

Hopefully, very soon you will be able to pay your utility bills with Bitcoins in the country where you live as well.

Finnish Investor Plans to Turn Estonian Castle Into a Bitcoin Center

In February, Finnish silver investor and Bitcoin millionaire Risto Pietilä, purchased Malla Manor, a 600-year-old castle located in North Estonia with the ambition of turning it into an international Bitcoin supercenter. 6 months after, the Bitcoin entrepreneur talks of the reasons that lead him to such an unusual project.

Pietilä is the founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Silvervault OÜ (or Silverbank), an Estonia-based silver investment firm founded in 2010. Pietilä has been investing in Bitcoin for few years and has been an active member of BitcoinTalk, interacting under the nickname rpietila.

Last year, Risto Pietilä announced on Finnish radio he had the intentions to buy the castle using his Bitcoin trading earnings (around 2 million Euros). Eventually, the one million euro transaction happened on February 28, and was qualified by the Helsinki Times as the world's most valuable virtual currency contract to date.

Pietilä then told the press that "Bitcoin [was] the essence of technology," arguing that it would eventually displace our current monetary system some day. The entrepreneur added that the purchase of the Estonian castle was also a way for him to diversify his investments:

"I bought the castle with the money that I earned from bitcoins at the end of last year. Their value had just increased ten-fold. [...] I wanted something that would be the opposite of Bitcoin. And I thought that it would certainly be a castle. If bitcoin continues to rise, I can end next year up to ten times richer than I am now. If it collapses completely, I still have the castle."

Malla Manor was built in the 1500s and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times through the centuries. The main house burnt down during the Great Northern War and the current building received its appearance in 1880s. The 13 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms were renovated in the 2000s and are situated in the outbuildings.

- Malla Manor

While the establishment of Bitcoin hubs and centers isn't a new idea, what makes Pietilä's project unique is the eccentricity of its location, as opposed to existent Bitcoin centers located in the heart of metropolis' or vibrant cities. While Pietilä has been having a difficult time attracting Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to such a remote location, he remains optimistic, tellingArticStartup:

"I have already held several meetings there, and the reality is that currently the customer base is indeed very small. This is intentional and will change dramatically when Bitcoin makes its next rise to about 5000-10000 dollars. Then everybody will want to come. And only then will I have the funds to proceed with the renovations, so the demand and supply will go neatly hand-in-hand."

The most prestigious suite in Malla Manor will be dedicated to the commemoration of Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto, and named after him, said Pietilä. He added that its construction is expected to start after "Bitcoin's next rise," and will cost more than a million dollars.

Pietilä has reached out to several cryptocurrency experts, and David Latapie, one of the core developers of Monero (XMR), a new digital currency using the CryptoNote protocol, is moving to the manor next month "to be better able to concentrate on development." Some of the other coins that are based on the CryptoNote technology are Bytecoin (BCN), which pioneered its use two years ago, Fantomcoin, Quazar and several others.

Invitations similar to David's have been sent to other developers, demonstrating Pietilä's intention in turning Malla Manor into a Bitcoin incubator:

"I believe next year Malla will be an important permanent site for cryptocurrency development, as well as a conference venue for short-term visitors."