At some point you might have heard digital
currencies described as a “financial revolution.” This sounds like an
intimidatingly swift overhaul of one giant system by an equally giant system.
In a small town in Maryland, however, the Iron Rail Diner is proof of grassroots
efforts to kick-start this “revolution” when they began
accepting dogecoin.
Why did the Iron Rail Diner, located in the blue-collar community of Mt. Savage, population 873, begin accepting Dogecoin? Terry Linn II, co-founder of the diner, said “The way I feel is that for us, it’s the same as a credit card but it eliminates a lot of the fees. I feel they will be valuable in a couple of years down the road.”
Linn also believes that Dogecoin might appeal to locals because it is an
official sponsor of NASCAR.
The diner attracted attention on the web after cryptocurrency miner Tym Holwager, who grew up 20 minutes from Mt. Savage, noticed the “Dogecoins Accepted” sign in the window, snapped a picture of it, and posted the photo on Reddit where it went viral. Linn said several people have made the journey to the Iron Rail to spend their dogecoins.
Dogecoin user Jason Gorby of Morgantown,
West Virginia, saw the Reddit post and hitched over to Mt Savage to make his
first in-person Dogecoin purchase. The Iron Rail Diner gives a key code to
miners who scan their QR code to buy food. In order to convert the Dogecoins
into cash, Linn would have to use a third-party service.
What was Gorby able to pay for? For Ð32,000
in Dogecoin, equivalent to US$20, Gorby bought a chopped steak with onions and
mushrooms, a Big Chief hamburger with french fries and applesauce along with an
appetizer of batter-fried mushrooms and two fountain Dr. Peppers. Holwager,
meanwhile, used his tablet to have a pizza delivered to him for Ð13,000, or
US$8.
