Is there a Bitcoin Embassy in Montreal, Canada?

Image source: Dazhi

There is a three-story glass building in the city center of Montreal, Canada. There are such buildings all over the world, but we know that most of them are office buildings of real estate companies. But here, the sign on it reads: Bitcoin Embassy.

For a digital currency that is often mistakenly believed to be used to process online drug transactions, it may seem strange to build a reinforced concrete building for it. However, we can also understand it from another perspective. Bitcoin is a currency, a philosophy based on the principle of "eliminating central control". Therefore, it is reasonable to have a special "temple" for believers to worship virtual currency.

What is strange is the location of this embassy. It seems that such a geek temple should be located in a high-tech gathering place like Silicon Valley, but it chose Montreal, Canada, a place shrouded in twilight all day long.

When I pushed open the building’s door, I was greeted by the embassy’s communications director, Francois Pouliot, the building’s only paid employee and a believer wearing a tie pin emblazoned with the Bitcoin logo.

As you walk into the building you can see Bitcoin T-shirts (with "Keep Calm, Hold Bitcoin"), Bitcoin bumper stickers, bookmarks and other small items everywhere.

At the front desk I met a new intern from a local university’s cryptocurrency club, whose desk was surrounded by a tennis court’s worth of ultra-thin screens. His job was to help guide everyone who walked into the building through buying and selling Bitcoin with cold hard cash.

There used to be a Bitcoin ATM in the building, but it was frozen in a corner and no longer functioning due to the "over-enthusiasm" of municipal staff. The current process is this: I handed the cash to the intern, who took a tablet and operated it and told me that I now have 0.089 Bitcoin in my electronic wallet. Currently, the most convenient way to buy Bitcoin is to use a 20-yuan bill with the Queen's head printed on it.

Although the building has only been open for 18 months, its three floors are filled with used mining equipment. Some are exposed to visitors for everyone to marvel at; others are used as heating devices to keep people warm. As you might guess, this building is also responsible for Bitcoin mining, although it is not carried out on a very professional scale, but the huge number of digital calculations performed by the computers are enough to heat the entire building (considering that the temperature here in winter is -28.9 degrees Celsius, this is enough to show its computing power).

There are several small office cubicles on the first floor of the building, where miners work in front of computers. The second floor looks like a luxury apartment, because the sponsor of the building is local real estate developer Jean-Marc Jacobson. Although he rarely visits here, the room still has a bed and a home theater like a high-end suite, the difference is that there is a 5-foot-high Bitcoin logo hanging on the wall. Sometimes, mining workers rest here when they are tired.

The third floor looks like an office floor (a bunch of power supply devices, a bunch of exhaust fans on each desk). It is home to some digital currency startups, altcoin projects, and some scholars who want to get professional certification in Bitcoin.

At this time, the Bitcoin Embassy also faces a disagreement. Most people believe that it should focus on popularizing and educating the public about Bitcoin technology by distributing flyers, giving away Bitcoin gifts, or holding Bitcoin academic lectures. At the same time, it can also persuade regulators to try to get banking institutions involved in the development of Bitcoin.

But others believe that the Bitcoin Embassy is a hotbed for miners and their work. If you have creative ideas for virtual currency, you will be provided with an office and network.

Mathieu Gagnon, the embassy's chief operating officer, described it as an organization where "entrepreneurs, volunteers, and industry partners come together to work towards a common goal." From his words, you can understand his ambition: to make Bitcoin dominate every corner of the world.

To understand why someone would donate a building, or why employees would abandon their lives and move to Montreal, you have to understand their Bitcoin obsession.

An almost extreme view is that Bitcoin can help people resist federal government control, specifically by reducing the central government's oppressive power and the monopoly control of the banking system.

This also explains why Quebec is a logical location for the first Bitcoin embassy: due to a long history of anti-Canadian separatism, people here have a deep-seated critical view of the federal government. Jokingly speaking, if Quebec really seceded from Canada, they could now replace the Canadian dollar with Bitcoin.

There is also a question: how did a building full of Bitcoin technology companies become an embassy? Chief Operating Officer Mathieu Gagnon explained: "Miners are excluded from the banking system, and the embassy provides them with a safe haven."

Some people walk into this building and ask what country's embassy this is. Sometimes this embassy also makes some Bitcoin groups feel that Bitcoin's "decentralized" design does not encourage large-scale, visible organizations. Since no one recognizes this embassy, ​​why should everyone listen to it?

Gagon said that Bitcoin organizations need a visible, real entity. "Regulators need to speak to a clear organization. If a bank wants to use Bitcoin one day, or a payment processor wants to use Bitcoin, they need to find someone to talk to about cooperation. They can visit online forums or come to our embassy."

The embassy is the first physical presence of Bitcoin in existence, if you exclude Bitcoin ATMs.

When I spoke with Gagnon and Pouliot, their enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies was evident.

The Bitcoin Embassy — and the people inside it — are by no means drug dealers selling drugs via Bitcoin, nor are they trying to split Quebec from Canada. It’s more like a geek union, where everyone works for something they believe in. The only difference is that they occasionally turn away a few lost tourists who want to renew their passports.