
Down the road from Piccadilly Circus and up Shaftesbury Avenue, The Century Club in London is one of the private members’ clubs that are dotted around Soho and the rest of the UK’s capital.
BTC transactions are easy in London’s Century Club. (Monty Munford)
For many, they are an outdated tradition of this most ancient of cities, a status symbol of privilege and an elite that was based on colonialism and slavery. For others, they are an intelligent place to do business away from the disruption of co-working spaces and noisy offices.
Traditionally slow to be innovative, it was refreshing to see last month that the Century Club has installed BTC terminals so members and their guests can settle their bills with cryptocurrency.
Founded this “century” in 2001 for the creative industry, the club has engaged payment provider Musquet to provide the terminals, and they have already proved popular with members, many of whom are of the demographic that has invested in cryptocurrency.
Tony Pearce, CEO of Web3 company Reality+, was one of the first members to use the terminals. He points out that while Bitcoin gets all the attention and mindshare from the general public, stablecoins are more prevalent in actually paying for things.
“Although there are a few bars in London now accepting BTC, I think stablecoins are a more widespread way of paying using digital currencies. This shift suggests that in the realm of everyday transactions, stablecoins have overshadowed BTC,” he says.
Pearce is right to cite the widespread under-use of BTC as a payment method. BTC payments have not only stopped growing but have significantly stalled.
According to the latest available figures from the US Federal Reserve, the use of cryptocurrencies for transactions (as opposed to investing) halved in 2023, down to just 1% of the population.
Crypto usage. (US Federal Reserve)
The rise and rise of stablecoins
According to…
..