We Now Accept Bitcoin As Payment At Our Physiotherapy Clinic
I am proud to announce that our physiotherapy clinic in Crawley will be the first physiotherapy practice in the UK to accept bitcoin as payment for its services.
I have chosen to do this on a backdrop of what I consider deeply concerning monetary policy implemented by the UK government over the past 18 months which has devalued the British Pound and led to palpable consumer price inflation.
Bitcoin has strengthened in value since its inception, and due to its programmatic and immutable monetary policy it is not subject to political interference.
As a physiotherapist I attain deep meaning in my career and I enjoy the work I do, but the longevity of my career, as with any self employed working individual in this country, depends on the ability to exchange the services I provide with a value mechanism that can be stored and used to purchase, at the very least, the same value in the future.
Since March of 2020 the UK government has injected hundreds of billions of British Pounds into the economy, which I understand many feel was necessary at the time.
The addition of such a large quantity of currency however (which most do not realise we will have to pay back via increased taxes – directly through income or via a stealth tax i.e inflation) cannot be added to the existing pile of currency without causing a devaluation of that same currency. The fact there are additional units of currency in existence what actually causes the reduction in value of each individual unit of currency (each unit of currency is now a smaller fraction of the total number of units of currency in circulation)
Bitcoins’ core value, in my opinion, is the network. At the time of writing approximately 100 million people around the world own or use bitcoin, with millions joining onto the protocol every month. Although it is correct I will be accepting a currency not widely used at the present time, it appears the network size is growing somewhat similarly to how the internet grew in its early days, currently mimicking roughly the same user base as the internet did in 1997. Therefore, with time, I suspect the day to day usability of bitcoin (my physiotherapy clinic being a prime example) will increase. More and more businesses are likely to take note of some of the distinctions explained in this article in their own time and therefore join the network also.
Now you will be able to pay for physiotherapy services in bitcoin, but one day we may also see an environment where we can pay for coffee, cinema tickets, office space, restaurant meals and much more in bitcoin. The owners of the businesses will realise that bitcoin held today should, in theory, hold or increase it’s purchasing power over time, which will likely make them more willing to save for longer, and to re-invest into their own businesses carefully, mindfully and thus effectively.
I suspect this spiral of events will lead to all business that accept bitcoin passing on the benefits of their stronger, newer, currency onto its customers, as they will be less strangled by having fiat savings which are melting away in purchasing power – which in many cases – results in price inflation being passed to customers (to account for the companies loss). In a bitcoin paradigm, prices can stay constant for extremely long periods of time, and in many cases could go down, in line with deflation (a consequence of this theorised policy).
Further details on how the functionality will work with regards to paying in bitcoin for services at our clinic will be explained in more detail in future articles.
Physiotherapy BSc MCSP HPC PAS
Founder of Crawley Physiotherapy Clinic
HCPC Registration Number PH97986
CSP Registration Number 089576