A ten-day festival promoting the use of bitcoin kicks off with a round of drinks at the Old Shoreditch Station pub in London on Friday evening.
BlockStock is a ten-day festival of events, activities, special offers, seminars and exhibitions interconnected with everyday high street businesses such as shops, pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes.
The event has the support of the London Borough of Hackney and is centred around London's Tech City entrepreneurial hub. Bitcoin enthusiasts will be encouraged to support local businesses that take the cryptocurrency by spending their digital coins during the course of the festival.
The party begins at the Old Shoreditch Station - the first place in the UK to have a Bitcoin ATM - before decamping to the trendy Old Bag Jaguar Shoes bar and cafe for pizzas and cocktails at 8.30pm. Late night revellers can take in live music at the Underbelly, a comedy night at The proud Archivist or dance the night away to top DJs at the Queen of Hoxton or The Book Club.
Blockstock organisers have so far rounded up 12 merchants prepared to try out the digital currency and and will be looking for more to join in as the event picks up steam.