On a Thursday, January 30th, a correspondent from spelunk.in paid for a comic book with Bitcoin in Meltdown Comics shop.
Pinguino (the nickname of the journalist) is a regular customer at the Meltdown Comics, and a digital coin enthusiast. This combination of a fanboy love for graphic novels and urge to spread the word about cryptocurrency allowed him to persuade store’s managers to give Bitcoin a chance to prove itself worthy of attention.
While there have already been cases of comic book being sold for cryptos over the internet, Meltdown is first “real” shop that took them for a payment. At least it claimed to be the first and I don’t see anyone proving otherwise.
Daniel Clowe’s “Death Ray” was the novel, that correspondent chose. The transaction went without any problems using BlockChain app on Pinguino’s I-phone.
Francisco Dominguez, the general manager of the shop was “giddy with excitement”, as journalist describes, when the transaction went well. To make success permanent, so to say, Pinguino came back later and took some other stuff including strawberry Yan Yan and vinyl figure of Black Business Protector Lucky Cat (don’t ask me), which also went smoothly.
In a short but informative interview Pinguino found out, why Francisco decided to accept Bitcoin and what were their plans in the long run.
However, first things first. General Manager remembers that he heard about Bitcoin a few years ago, when the cryptocurrency was young and did not had a price tag over $800. Even though Dominguez was interested in it, at those times it was not making an impression of something that was going explode and become a hot topic for discussion on official levels, pressing government to make statements regarding it.
That was before he met Pinguino, who explained, how the new fad works and what can be done with it, as well as confirming that it is not a scheme. New tech is always a fascinating thing to use, like a new toy and people at comic stores surely love their toys.
Another reason is a bit more depressing – as digital retail of comics becomes more prominent, the “brick and mortar” shops are closing down. Of course, there are those readers, who still believes in the old school paperback, stacking piles of issues in their garages, but such people are becoming extinct. Clearly, having all those novels on your IPad is much more convenient.
I am not sure when was the last time I read something from paper. Ever since I found out that it was possible to read books on my Siemens CX65 (R.I.P. buddy) I haven’t pick up a non-digital book unless it was a gift.
Despite my habits and preferences, I really wish Meltdown Comics good luck. Maybe Bitcoin is something that would help them survive the fast-paced world where tech is always steps ahead of us.