Russian Bar Franchise Killfish Will Take Your Bitcoin For Vodka

Russian winter, voluptuous blondes, vodka and a wad of cash don’t tend to mix well and they are guaranteed to result in a particularly nasty morning.

Luckily a Russian bar franchise has started accepting bitcoins as a form of payment, so inebriated bar goers should have less explaining to do tomorrow.

Killfish bars allows users to create their own wallets using credit cards and multiple mobile payment services, as well as bitcoin. Russian tech magazine Tjournal gave it a try and it worked.

One bitcoin would add $706.16 (at the time of writing) to the wallet and there is just a small fee to pay, roughly 0.0001BTC. However, the process wasn’t very smooth or fast, as it took more than half an hour and multiple confirmations.

Killfish bars can be found in 25 Russian cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Chelyabinsk. The bars are renowned for cheap food and booze, as well as aggressive marketing, including referral schemes.

The company says it plans to comply with local laws, but cryptocurrencies are not exactly regulated in Russia, or other parts of the world for that matter.

Killfish is not the first bar to embrace bitcoin. The Pembury Tavern in Hackney, east London, started accepting bitcoin earlier this year. The tavern employed a straightforward QR code based payment system that requires customers to simply open their bitcoin wallet and snap the QR code.

Sydney’s Old Fitzroy became the country’s first bar to accept bitcoin back in September, dubbing the programme ‘Beer for Bitcoins’. It also uses a QR code system.

If you every find yourself short on renminbi while touring the Glorious People’s Republic of China, you can buy a bitcoin pint at the 2nd Place Cafe Bar in Beijing’s Wudaokou suburb. It is the first such establishment in the country to accept bitcoin.

CoinDesk would like to remind you to drink responsibly during this festive period!

Vodka image via Shutterstock