Hong Kong’s Google Maps Starts Accepting Crypto
November 18, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
Against the backdrop of protests in Hong Kong, cryptocurrencies gained immense popularity as tools to move away from state supervision.
Because of the now-recalled extradition bill that would allow law enforcement to detain and transport people to mainland China, the Hong Kong government had to impose a state of emergency.
Amid the chaos that has swept the entire region, cryptocurrencies allow you to get away from state supervision. Over the past few months, a number of companies, including Pricerite and Hong Kong Free Press, have announced the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as donations.
Now HKmap.live (a local free analog of the Google Maps service), also began to accept crypto assets. The developer of HKmap.live, known to a wide audience under the pseudonym Kuma, spoke about the reasons why it was decided to accept cryptocurrencies.
According to the developer, the Hong Kong government is to blame for the fact that people are forced to remain anonymous. His service accepts BTC, ETH, BCH, XMR, ZEC, XLM, XRP and NANO. The last three were added at the request of the users themselves.
According to current information, they have already raised approximately a couple of thousand US dollars, which are aimed at paying for hosting, operating and legal expenses.
“The anonymity of cryptocurrencies significantly reduced the risks and protected us and our users. Many attribute cryptocurrencies to something bad, but I don’t think so. This is quite fair. It is likely that with the help of Bitcoin they really finance illegal activities, but the fiat currency in this regard is used for much longer and in much larger volumes,” said Kuma.
Author: Marko Vidrih