Hi-tech pay system at hair salon cuts out bank charges

47 Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate, CT11 8AD T: 01303 487 124 e: petticoatemporium@ hotmail.com It may seem an unlikely venue to be leading a revolution in the world of finance, but that is just what a hair salon is doing.

Metin Warwick, who owns Twist in Larkfield, said he has become fed up with the costs of the traditional banking system. Instead he is inviting customers to pay in an online crypto-currency.

He said: “Mark my words, within the next five years or so, this is going to become the norm. It’s got so many advantages.”

Bitcoin is a digital currency and users install an address for making and receiving payments.

Mr Warwick says payments can be made via a mobile and the chief advantage to him is no bank charges. He said: “The customer pays and it’s in my account in six seconds, no messing around waiting for cheques to clear.

“At the moment I pay for a card machine on a monthly basis. I have to pay a fee on card payments of up to 5% per transaction and then the bank charges me just to operate a business account.”

Mr Warwick stressed the intention was not to avoid paying taxes or operating in a black economy. He said: “Of course you still have to make all the proper returns, but this is more about technology and avoiding bank charges.”

Mr Warwick has operated the saon in Lunsford Park for four years. He said he has around 15 customers using Bitcoin, but expects the number to grow.

At the moment there are an estimated 150,000 businesses worldwide accepting such payments, but it is possible for Bitcoin account holders to now get a credit card.

It is deemed a global currency and can be used to make foreign purchases with no exchange rate commissions.

Mr Warwick said: “More people are realising we will be a cashless society in the not too distant future and this is the way we will all handle money.”

Bitcoin was allegedly invented by a programmer called Satoshi Nakamoto, but it is unclear whether such a person exists. It first appeared in 2008.

There are several units of Bitcoin and transactions are recorded publicly. Their value has been steadily rising and this week a Bitcoin could be exchanged for £902.