Canada-based professional services provider drives blockchain adoption with the integration of bitcoin payments at its Toronto office’s restaurant.
Deloitte has started accepting payments in digital currency at its internal restaurant called Bistro 1858 in Toronto. BitPay was chosen as a processor of cryptocurrency payments.
Last year, Deloitte became the first of the ‘Big Four’ accounting companies to install a bitcoin ATM at its offices in Toronto, what resulted in a significant growth of bitcoin and blockchain adoption.
The announcement is part of the company’s goal to make users acquire bitcoin from the ATM and then spend them in the Bistro 1858.
“After placing a BTM in our offices and seeing Deloitte personnel downloading a wallet and buying their first fraction of a bitcoin, it seemed natural to enable the next step of the use case under our own roof,” Ian Chan, Partner, Deloitte, said in a press-release.
Delotte has partnered with Benchmark Hospitality to operate Bistro 1858 and incorporate digital currency payments with their Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems and procedures.
“We’re excited to see a leading company like Deloitte exploring the possibilities with bitcoin payments,” said BitPay CEO, Stephen Pair. “We hope this test case will show users on a small scale what bitcoin can do for online payments and what BitPay is doing for businesses transferring value globally.”
“By allowing individuals to buy and sell bitcoin with our BTM, and now to buy their lunch with bitcoin, we’re demonstrating that the blockchain experience for the front-end user is not all that complicated,” said Iliana Oris Valiente, Strategy Leader, Rubix by Deloitte. “What is important to realize, however, is that the back-end technology has fundamentally changed.”
Deloitte is not the only one of the ‘Big Four’ companies which is interested in bitcoin and its underlying technology. Last year, PwC launched its own blockchain platform Vulcan, while KPMG opened blockchain development labs in Germany and Singapore. A few months ago, Ernst & Young started developing blockchain applications together with Bitfury Group.
Deloitte, however, is leading the group in terms of involvement in the blockchain industry. The company is now working on various blokchcian solutions for real estate, banking, payments and other industries.
In December, Deloitte for the first time invested in the blockchain startup that is developing payment and settlement solutions. The move is part of the company’s Innovation Investments scheme, which helps its employees to develop their business ideas.
Also, this year Deloitte launched two blockchain labs that will focus on building blockchain applications. In January, the firm announced the opening of a new lab in Dublin, Ireland, just a few days since the launch of its NY lab.
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