Popular Canadian trading platform Bunz Inc., a fast-growing Toronto-based online-bartering market, has announced the launching of BTZ (short for Bunz Trading Zone) as the first Canadian cryptocurrency, The Globe & Mail reported.
The company said Monday that BTZ is not yet an actual cryptocurrency but the plan is to eventually convert it into one. New and existing users of the Bunz app will get 1,000 units of BTZ, which the company says has a current value of about three coffees.
“You can use it in a simple and elegant way,” said Bunz chief executive Sascha Mojtahedi..
“We know the technology works … but we haven’t really seen a viable use case that the mass market can get behind. I think we’re going to be the first example of that.”
Mojtahedi said the launch of BTZ should not be seen as Bunz heading in a new corporate direction, even though the company has secured funding from institutional investors.
“I actually see it as doubling down rather than diverging from the ethos Bunz represents,” he said.
Founded in Toronto in 2013 by Emily Bitze, Bunz began as a Facebook group that encouraged users to trade their unwanted goods rather than seeking cash. The group grew quickly through word of mouth to thousands of members, expanding to other cities and beyond Facebook. The Bunz app and website launched in 2016 and have both continued to grow.
By Siranush Ghazanchyan