DNB’s Vipps App Makes Buying Bitcoin In Norway Inadvertently Easier

It is good to hear that buying Bitcoin has become significantly easier in Norway. Contrary to what people may expect, this is made possible thanks to DNB launching their new mobile app. Vipps allows users in Norway to transfer money by using a mobile phone number as the recipient. BitcoinsNorway, one of the largest local cryptocurrency exchanges, enabled Vipps support yesterday. This is a positive development, but it will not affect local Bitcoin spending anytime soon.

Using Vipps To Buy Bitcoin Is A Grey Area

A bank inadvertently helping Bitcoin adoption is a very rare occurrence. In some cases, financial institutions have openly opposed buying and selling cryptocurrency. By blocking user accounts, a bank can make these types of transactions virtually impossible. The new Vipps app by DNB, however, has a good deal of potential.

To be more precise, Vipps allows users to send money from their bank account to any mobile phone number in Norway. With one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges offering support for this app, depositing cash to buy bitcoin becomes a lot easier. Considering how nearly one in four Norwegians uses Vipps, there is huge potential for Bitcoin adoption.

Unfortunately, it appears that using Vipps to purchase Bitcoin may be a violation of their TOS. Moreover, BitcoinsNorway does not have the best of names in the community either. But for now, the situation remains as it is, albeit it may come to change on a whim’s notice. Convenient solutions to buy Bitcoin remain rather elusive in Europe, with the exception of Localbitcoins.

One Reddit user pointed out how his Vipps account got suspended for selling Bitcoin. Then again, his payment was fraudulent, so that might explain a thing or two. Since Vipps relies on credit cards, for the most part, this new gateway to Bitcoin can be shut down quite easily. Still, this is a very exciting development, and perhaps a sign of better things to come.

Despite this semi-positive news, using Bitcoin in Norway remains painstakingly difficult. The number of shops accepting cryptocurrency is very small and does not seem to grow over time. Physical locations barely know about Bitcoin, let alone accept it. The new mobile app, however, may gain traction among retailers if this popularity trend continues at its current pace.

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