Here at HandPans Magazine, in addition to our love of HandPan, we also like a bit of tech, and at time of posting, it’s almost impossible to move on the internet without hearing about these new fangled ‘thingamajigs’ called ‘Bitcoins’. People are buying them, people are trading them, people are mining them(?), and (making them at least a little relevant to the world of HandPan for the sake of this post), people are paying for things with them.
But what are they?
Bitcoins are a kind of digital currency (often referred to as ‘cryptocurrency’), a type of peer-to-peer payment system that appears to be gaining popularity (and acceptance) with amazing speed. Originally adopted by ‘shady types’, in the area of the internet known as the ‘Darknet’, Bitcoins have in recent years begun to seep into mainstream commerce, so that now, you can pay with Bitcoins for everything from T-shirts, and movies, through to booking your place on a suborbital spaceflight with Virgin Galactic. Which brings us back to the world of HandPan, with Tzevaot, an American HandPan producing company announcing in January 2014, that they would be happy to accept Bitcoins in payment for one of their instruments.
At time of posting, the cost of a Tzevaot produced HandPan is $1800, while the exchange rate for Bitcoins Vs Dollars is fluctuating around $869 per Bitcoin. Meaning that a Tzevaot Handpan will cost you just over two Bitcoins (possibly a very tempting offer for those who got in early back when Bitcoin were selling for pennies). With one of the most interesting facts about Bitcoin being, that it is possible to use computers to ‘mine’ for them (though with further reading, this is not as easy as it might initially sound).
! An update from Tzevaot's facebook page January 27th, 2014 - "We have successfully completed our first Bitcoin/Litecoin sale! No paypal fees, no wire-transfer fees and from anywhere in the world at that. The future is amazing, and the future is now."
Want to buy Bitcoins? - Find them for sale: HERE