Advertisement

Turn loose foreign change into Bitcoins at Turkey airport

In yet another sign of the Bitcoin’s potential impact on the travel industry, a vending machine kiosk in Turkey will soon allow travelers to exchange their leftover foreign change into Bitcoins.

Instead of leaving loose foreign change to languish uselessly at the bottom of change purses, outgoing tourists at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul will be able to deposit their leftover cash -- both coins and bills -- into the Travelersbox kiosk in return for Bitcoins, the world’s first peer-to-peer digital currency that takes banks out of the equation.

Like an ATM, users need simply to add the hard currency into the machine, select their e-wallet -- Paypal, Qiwi or Bitcoin -- and enter the email address and phone number registered with the account.

Funds are transferred directly. Users can also purchase virtual gift cards from participating retailers, or donate the money to charity.

Last week low-budget reservations site CheapAir.com became the world’s first online travel agency to accept Bitcoins for flight purchases, while Sir Richard Branson also announced that passengers will be able to pay for their trip into space using the virtual currency.