Bitfash: Shopping for Fashion Brands with Bitcoin
Yeah, there has been so many stories on Bitcoin since mid-April when it lost about half of the value over night after hitting a record high, thanks to a speculation wave which resulted in a DDoS attack and ‘panic sale’. Also there emerged all kinds of related services like exchanges, and businesses like this food ordering service that accept Bitcoin.
Riding the wave, Bitfash, a service for Bitcoin holders to shop for fashion brands, was launched in the past April. Though the company behind it, Woods and Kelkar Pty Ltd, and the two founders are Australian, Chris Woods, one of the founders, is living in Beijing and now working on a Chinese version of the website and has been looking at the opportunities in China.
Three brands, Zara, Forever 21 and Mr. Porter, are available now and more will be added over time. Delivery and after-sales service, however, are taken care of directly by brands, not Bitfash. It charges consumers a small amount of fee. The exchange rate between USD and Bitcoin is consistent with that on MtGox, currently the largest Bitcoin exchange and reflecting the prevailing exchange rate.
Though speculators may make up the larger group of the total Bitcoin holders and would like to hoard some waiting for the price go up, the smaller group, Bitfash believes, would like to spend it for goods and services online. And before Bitfash, there was no fashion brands that could be purchased with Bitcoins.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of Bitfash’s customers are male and tech-savvy. But there are also high street consumers. Website visitors by location: 35% from Asia/Oceania(China: 8%), 32% from USA, and 32% from Europe. Most of users are between ages 18-34. Currently the majority of its customers are from the USA and Australia.
当然のことながら、Bitfash利用者は男性で、技術に抵抗が無い人が多い。しかしハイストリートの購入者もまた多い。ウェブサイトに訪れる人の地域ごとの内訳はこうだ。アジア、オセアニア35％（内8％が中国）、アメリカ32％、ヨーロッパ32％。年齢別で最も多いのが18歳から34歳だ。現在最も購入者が多いのがアメリカとオーストラリアになっている。
当然のことながら、Bitfashの顧客の大部分は男性で技術に詳しい。だが、繁華街で買い物を楽しむ顧客も存在する。地域ごとのウェブサイト訪問者は次の通りだ。アジア/オセアニア 35%（中国 8%）、米国 32%、ヨーロッパ 32%。ほとんどのユーザーは18歳～34歳の間となっている。顧客の大部分は現在、米国人とオーストラリア人である。
Woods believes Bitcoin is the most technologically advanced digital currency and they’d accept other virtual currencies if they were equally or even more advanced. As both founders used to work in investment banking sector, they are aware of Bicoin risks, saying they’d manage their working capital balances of Bitcoins and USD ‘to maintain the working capital needed to sustain an efficient business operation’.
Given the Bitcoin’s volatility we saw in the past months, you cannot help guessing that any business only accepting Bitcoin must be a speculator. Woods claims, “We try not to be speculators because it distracts us away from the point of Bitfash”. He pointed out that the value became quite stable in the month after the incident in April.
It’s very likely that we’ll see speculation drives price up and down in the near future, but Woods believes “over the next few years as more and more people start using Bitcoin the price will inevitably increase, but we think it will be a steady increase”.
近い将来に、投機の動きが価格を動かす事は大いに予想されるが、Woods氏は「これから数年で、より多くの人がBitcoinを使い始め、必然的に価値は上がっていくと思われますが、それは安定した上昇になると思っています。」と語る。
近い将来、投機により価格が上昇および下落する可能性が高いが、Woods氏の考えによると、「今後の数年間、より多くの人がBitcoinを使い始めるにつれ価格はどうしても上昇するでしょうが、我々はそれは堅調な上昇であると考えます」とのことだ。
“From this moment going forward, you will see more Bitcoin infrastructure come online (which we believe will manifest itself as more efficient exchanges, easy-to-use merchant services, and of course government regulation). This will gradually lead to gains in confidence and hence you will see more people purchasing Bitcoin for personal use and therefore putting upward pressure on the Bitcoin price”, he said.
Bitcoin actually has become a hot topic in China, at least among media. Woods noticed even CCTV, China’s state TV station, broadcast two features, with positive or neutral tone, on Bitcoin in the past month. Some Taobao retailers started accepting it and a few Chinese are mining Bitcoins.
少なくともメディアの中では、Bitcoinは中国において最も語られているトピックになった。Woods氏は中国国営放送のCCTVさえ、肯定的または中立的に、特集を二つ放送した事に気づいた。いくつかのTaobaoの小売業者たちもそれを受け入れ始め、一部の中国人たちはBitcoinのマイニングを行っている。
実際に、Bitcoinは中国で、少なくともメディアの間ではホットな話題となっている。Woods氏は、中国の国営テレビ局CCTVさえも先月Bitcoinに関する2度の特集番組を放送したことに注目した。Taobaoの小売業者のなかにはBitcoinの受付を始めた者もおり、数人の中国人がBitcoinを利用しようと調査を行っている。
