David Moskowitz has attended a couple bitcoin
related meetups in Singapore. During the second
meetup he decided to organize Singapore’s 1st
Satoshi Square, with open outcry bidding letting
folks exchange between Singapore Dollars and
Bitcoins. We had the opportunity of chatting with
him about the experience and hearing his
perspective on being a Bitcoin user from Singapore.
Ruben Alexander: When did you first hear about
Bitcoin?
David Moskowitz: My main business is helping
people set up subscription websites and payment
systems are a big part of that setup. I had heard
of BitPay a couple of years ago as a possible
payment solution, but didn’t look into it. There were
plenty of payment systems available, and I didn’t
see the need to add another one. I’m definitely not an
early adopter of technologies – I tend to wait and
see how they develop. For products, there’s usually
a good price drop as well if you are willing to wait.
Then about 6 months ago, in a forum for the
software I deal with someone pointed out accepting
bitcoin again, and I took a deeper look. Soon after
that the media started talking about it and
suddenly interest really shot up. I asked the
software vendor to add taking bitcoin to their release
schedule. I bought my first bitcoin about 2 months
ago (after the May correction) and have now started
integrating it into the systems I set up for my own
sites.
RA: What inspired you to start Singapore’s first
Satoshi Square?
DM: I think initially the thought came when I
heard that the bar we would have the meetup at
would be accepting bitcoin. I figured there may be
some people there who may want to buy some to use
to buy drinks – and an open outcry seemed like a
fun way to do it. I proposed the idea to the meetup
organizers and they ok’d it.
RA: What typically has been discussed at these
meetups?
DM: At the one I went to it was general networking
with other bitcoin enthusiasts discussing how they
got into bitcoin, how they are buying/selling.
Sharing some ideas on how to spread the word
about bitcoin. We also discussed some ideas for
possible business ventures in the space.