You won't be seeing Bitcoins on the high street any time soon Leaving enormous volatility in the value of the currency aside, Bitcoin transactions, which are largely anonymous, can take up to an hour to clear. This means that a Bitcoin fraudster could easily have downed his pint and disappeared into the night before his pub realises that the payment was worthless. The same problem arises with any point-of-sale transaction in a brick-and-mortar shop. Right now, these pubs rely heavily on trust and a familiar clientele to mitigate these risks. But this model would simply be too perilous for many retailers. Colin Pickard, director at EY, said he would caution any retail client approaching the firm for advice about accepting Bitcoin. It's not really suitable for retail. The settlement chain for Bitcoin moves through a number of different owners before the transaction is cleared. However there seems to be more potential for Bitcoin in the rest of the services sector. An Edinburgh letting agent, Umega, started accepting the currency largely for the benefit of its international student customers, who would otherwise have difficulty transferring a deposit. Warren Smyth, a Belfast-based landscape gardener, has tentatively put his business on Coinmap, a website which lists Bitcoin-friendly companies. He admits that one of his motivations was publicity -but he also believes it will give him a real edge over his competitors. I'm thinking of it in investment terms - it's probably going to go higher in the next five to ten years. For me it would not be a way of just getting payment. He also has few worries about Bitcoin fraud - as he is swift to point out "I'm cuting their grass, so I know where they live."