Bali Health Lounge is giving bitcoin investors a way to spend their millions
IF the last few days of bitcoin price fluctuation have left you feeling a little on edge, here's a way of relieving the stress. Manchester spa Bali Health Lounge is now letting people pay for treatments, such as a relaxing Swedish massage, using bitcoin.
Their online payment system converts the price in pounds to the current value in bitcoin and takes the payment from your bitcoin wallet.
James Pitayanukul, one of the spa's owners, explained why they introduced the new way of paying: “People increasingly have cryptocurrency. It's become a very popular new asset class that more and more people own – and we're giving them something that they can do with it other than investing.”
Bali Health Lounge is one of the first spas to let people pay using bitcoin, but there are an increasing number of other businesses already taking cryptocurrency payments, including major firms such as Microsoft, Reddit, and high street store Lush.
The spa also accepts payments in litecoin. James explained why he thinks cryptocurrency payment systems are worth introducing:
“We believe in the concept of decentralised currency. It's not connected to a central government, there's no banks involved, there's no central power. It's run on a consensus mechanism.
“And we believe it will become a daily currency that everyone will be using. It will become mainstream.”
The debate is still raging on whether he's right or not. In the meantime, if your bitcoin millions are burning a hole in your virtual pocket, Bali Health Lounge is offering a real-world way to spend them.
A one-hour Swedish massage at Bali Health Lounge costs £69, which is currently 0.00815 bitcoin. Other popular treatments include their signature neck release massage, Elemis facials, and their Wellness Package spa day.
If you'd like to pay for a treatment using bitcoin, you must book and pay beforehand using the gift voucher option on the Bali Health Lounge website, rather than on the day at the spa.
Find out more about Bali Health Lounge.