Living Room of Satoshi Wins Best New Startup in Australia
Living Room of Satoshi, the intermediary that enables folks to pay their bills with Bitcoin, has been recognized by the wider business company for its innovation. In some ways to TechCrunch’s Disrupt awards, the event is meant to highlight regional businesses who have pioneered new territory in their space.
Living Room of Satoshi was one of the first companies to achieve the goal of enabling Bitcoin bill payments, and its user base has steadily grown since its launch about a year ago. Within a few months, they had done $150,000 in bill payments, charging no fees to the customer.
The company won two awards at the event last night – “Best New Startup in Australia” and “Best State Startup” for Queensland. (Living Room of Satoshi is based in Brisbane.) CEO Daniel Alexiuc was excited to be recognized by the wider business company, saying:
When I announced in my acceptance speech that our major competitor BPAY was owned by the Big 4 Australian banks, there were sympathetic boos and jeers. But it soon turned to thunderous applause when I warned the bill payments behemoth to ‘Look out! This plucky little startup from Queensland is coming for you!’
Despite not having the backing of major banks and traditional finance companies, the bill pay facilitator seems to be winning the arms race for enabling Bitcoin users to participate in the normal economy. Offering a no-fee service model, potentially more everyday people will consider them as time goes on because paying bills comes with a small fee to the person paying his or her bills.
Living Room of Satoshi is an internet start-up that enables payment of any bill using Bitcoin. This includes phone bills, electricity bills, school fees, credit card and tax payments. Users can pay bills up to $1,000 AUD at no charge.
