Even Non-Profits Are Accepting Bitcoin Now

We know that Bitcoin seems be accepted by more and more Canadian businesses, small or large, but now it appears that non-profits have joined the club.

In a story that came out yesterday in the Waterloo Record, Capacity Waterloo Region is among the first noted non-profits to accept the cryptocurrency. It’s a vaguely-defined charity that seeks to bring “together the ideas, people and resources that drive social change,” with a vision to change lives through courageous community organizations. The Record said it works with the region’s charities to help them become more entrepreneurial.

Not exactly known for their cutting-edge or progressive technology prowess, it is cool to see that non-profits are beginning to see the value in the currency as well. Capacity will start accepting Bitcoin as donation (and really, with a value of around $950 for one Bitcoin, can I just throw it out there that I’m also accepting them via donation?).

Anyways, Capacity has made the decision to immediately convert the coins into cash, which will mitigate risk if Bitcoin’s value drops, but it could also mean prematurely selling before value increases.

Capacity’s Andrew Wilding told the Record that he hopes other charities will embrace to unregulated currency as well. “There’s an awful lot of interest in it, especially among younger people. This is just beginning, and wanted to be out there first to try it,” he told the newspaper. “We hope to both receive donations, and we also want see if this could work for other organizations.”

Bitcoin has been making the rounds lately in news headlines: from Montreal and Ottawa getting bitcoin ATMs (or “BTMs”) this week, to CBC KW giving one lucky listener Bitcoin over the airwaves, Canada can’t seem to get enough of the new currency.

Of course there’s certain obstacles in its way to being a “legitimate” currency, particularly the unregulated part. That hasn’t sat well with several different government around the world, particularly Canada’s, who said its not a currency, but a commodity.

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