Digital currency lovers will get the chance to rub elbows with fellow enthusiasts this weekend as Vancouver plays hosts to a series of Bitcoin events.
Coinfest 2014 links up West Coast venues via satellite with other similar events across the globe on February 15 to celebrate the digital currency.
Meanwhile, the Coinfest Currency Conference the following day is expected to draw 200 visitors to SFU's Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver, where speakers will discuss and demonstrate the opportunities Bitcoin provides.
"It allows for instantaneous transfer of wealth between any two parties in the world with no person in between. It basically allows you to email money with pretty much no fees involves," said Simon Fraser Bitcoin Club founder Mike Yeung, who helped organize the events.
"What got me further into it is just the philosophy of creating a money where its creation is decentralized, so it's not controlled by any one entity."
Although Vancouver is home to the world's first Bitcoin ATM, most retailers on the West Coast don't accept the currency.
But people will be able to gather Saturday at either Doolin's Irish Pub on the Granville strip or India Gate Restaurant on Robson Street and have the chance to use the digital currency to pay for their food and drinks.
After researching other restaurants across the globe, Yeung said his club discovered India Gate is actually the first Indian restaurant to accept Bitcoin.
He added Saturday's events will be particularly entertaining since patrons at India Gate will also get the chance to play poker and place their bets with Bitcoin.
Other Coinfest 2014 events include a Bitcoin mining and hardware demonstration at the Waves coffee on Howe Street at Smithe, where the first Bitcoin ATM opened up in October.
