As we become a more cashless society, using a mobile phone or smart watch to pay a bill is now a familiar sight in bars, restaurants and shops, and perhaps you’ll be offered the choice of which currency you’d like to pay in. Aside from the pounds, euros and dollars, what are the advantages of using a completely new currency altogether? Bitcoin has been around for over ten years now and over the last few we’ve been seeing more and more businesses accepting it is as a form of payment. Individuals and companies can take advantage of some real benefits that leave cash and cards trailing way behind. 

Cash can be lost and cards can easily be cloned or stolen but because cryptocurrencies are digital they cannot be counterfeited so security is just one of the huge advantages, they also eliminate the possibility of identity theft. Transactions in digital currencies are instant, meaning there’s no middle-man holding your money for unnecessary lengths of time and also sneaking in fees for the privilege, which can be as much as 3 percent per transaction. While this is all very appealing, where can you buy Bitcoins and more importantly, where can you spend them?

In a previous article on Bitcoin we talked about the Slovenian company Bitstamp which was founded in Kranj in 2011 and went on to become one of the world’s biggest Bitcoin Exchanges. But this isn’t Slovenia’s only claim to fame in the field of digital currencies. Slovenia is now leading the way for places to spend your Bitcoins. In Ljubljana alone there are now over 300 venues that accept payment for goods and services in Bitcoin. Compare that to London, with eight million more residents and only 103 venues accepting Bitcoin, that’s quite impressive.

Shopping is a big hobby for many Slovenes and BTC City over on the east side of town is the best place to head to when you want to do some spending. Of the 500 business located there over 100 of them are now accepting Bitcoin, and with the implementation of the Elly payment system this shopping and entertainment haven is paving the way to become the first ever Bitcoin City. Elly was developed by another Slovenian company, Eligma, barely two years ago and allows users to trade cryptocurrencies and make purchases through an easy to use crypto wallet app.

You can also spend your Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies far and wide across the rest of the country, from Murska Sobota down to Portorož you’ll find a further 200 supporting businesses making Slovenia the country with the highest number of physical locations in the world.

We may still have a way to go before the whole world trades on digital currencies but perhaps one day the crumpled old notes will need to start thinking about stepping aside.