The KeplerK platform is starting to equip certain tobacconists to sell you bitcoin tickets. Like a lotto grid, you can easily buy virtual currencies. But be careful because the risk of capital loss is high.
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For the past few days, you can buy tickets convertible into bitcoins at tobacco shops. An agreement has indeed been signed between the company Bimedia, which markets payment solutions reserved for tobacconists, and the KeplerK platform, specializing in the sale of crypto-assets. At present, around twenty tobacconists throughout France (see table below) have been equipped with this solution, but their number should increase rapidly. The KeplerK solution is expected to be available in more than 6,500 tobacco shops within a few weeks. According to the first returns, the demand is already there. “Since the introduction of KleplerK tickets at our establishment at the beginning of the year, we have had at least one customer for bitcoin every day. Yesterday, someone even bought them for 1,000 euros, or four 250-euro tickets, ”says a Parisian tobacconist.
Easy access
KeplerK intends to democratize the purchase of crypto-assets, that is to say virtual currencies created and exchanged via blockchain technology (bitcoin and etherum especially), thanks to the sale of tickets of 50, 100 or 250 euros at a tobacconist. To validate his purchase, the individual must create an account on the online platform, then enter the information, including the code on his ticket before being credited online with the corresponding amount in bitcoin or ethereum. KeplerK is paid 7% on each ticket, 1.25% of which is donated to tobacconists. The individual will also have to pay service fees for the platform, billed at 1 euro per month after the first three months offered. An additional commission that is not practiced by its competitors, in particular by Digycode which has already offered for several years to buy bitcoin reload cards in around thirty tobacco shops, mainly in the South of France.
Bitcoin lost 70% of its value in 2018
KleplerK’s initiative also arouses distrust from regulatory authorities. The AMF, the ACPR and the Banque de France recalled that the company has not obtained any approval to market its tickets for lack of a suitable framework for the time being. In addition, regulators have insisted that investing in this type of speculative asset is not compatible with an uninformed private investor profile! It is true that this market is on the one hand complex to understand and on the other hand particularly volatile. In 2018, bitcoin lost more than 70% of its value. It currently stands at around 4,035 dollars (or 3,496 euros). The whole question is whether the price of this virtual currency has potential in the future. You can’t know for the moment, but what is certain is that you can lose a lot. The AMF has also identified last year more than a thousand complaints from individuals who were defrauded by accumulating 55 million euros by false platforms marketing crypto-assets. You must therefore be extra vigilant in this market where scams are legion.
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