Health Club Management recently revealed how online gym pass provider PayasUgym will soon begin testing Bitcoin, potentially paving the way for the cryptocurrency to become an accepted form of payment across more than 2,000 UK gyms in the
PayasUgym network.Having launched in 2009, Bitcoin is the ‘currency of the internet’ and has brought benefits to a wide range of industries including e-commerce, crowdfunding and even prostitution (the swift and anonymous online transactions ensure vulnerable workers never have to carry cash).
The currency has been described by Bill Gates as a “technological tour de force” and has been hailed for its relative immunity from inflation, corruption and human error, as it is based on mathematical formulae, rather than government policy. However, critics have pointed out that the currency can be susceptible to theft by hackers if it is not stored securely.
PayasUgym’s plans for consumers to be able to buy gym passes and memberships via Bitcoin would make the health and fitness industry a relatively early adopter of the technology – something that has not always been the case in the past.
According to PayasUgym co-founder and business development director Neil Harmsworth, the Bitcoin plans have been met with a lot of curiosity from the industry, but he expects operators will only be able to fully benefit once the currency becomes more widespread among consumers.
"There's been a lot of interest from the industry in terms of the trials we are proposing. However, the ultimate success of the currency in the fitness industry will likely be driven by adoption rates in other sectors such as online retail first,” he said.
“I doubt that it will be health and fitness as a sector that leads the way. But our current trials mean that we will be well placed when it does inevitably reach our sector and the gyms we work with will reap the benefit of our early investment.”
To find out what the rest of the industry makes of theses plans – Is it a great opportunity or a technological flash in the plan? – we asked a range of fitness thought leaders for their views on whether Bitcoin could bring appreciable benefits to gyms. Below is a selection of the responses.
Jim Graham, COO of The Gym Group“The Gym Group’s approach to the customer journey has always been to make it as frictionless as possible. We are always assessing what is the right portfolio of payment methods that meet our members’ needs without driving unnecessary cost into our business. For example, we are working on Paypal and considering a trial of various niche products such as Jumio. Bitcoin isn’t on our roadmap right now, but along with other technologies it will be in our sights.”
Ray Algar, industry analyst and founder of Oxygen Consulting“Providing consumers with an alternative payment method that is fast and free of transaction charges at both ends must be explored by any business looking to compete in a digital economy. I can already useBitcoin to book accommodation on
9flats.com and buy a drink from a growing number of British pubs, so paying my personal trainer using Bitcoin is more convenient than carrying cash.”
Jan Spaticchia, chair of the énergie group“Our technology team have started to look into Bitcoin and we are in early discussion to potentially trial this as a pilot in a select franchise. The technology looks exciting and its ability to help make savings on existing transaction fees for accepting credit cards and other payment methods is an attractive proposition. I believe the fitness sector is very forward thinking and welcomes new innovation. This development could make transacting easier, quicker, safer, cheaper and early indications suggest that Bitcoin is up to the task.”
David Stalker, CEO of ukactive“Anything that makes getting involved in physical activity easier and facilitates consumer choice more readily is generally a good thing. It’s good for our industry to be seen as early adopters of game changing digital technology in front of customers, policy makers, investors and the like, however because it might cause a certain amount of de-personalisation of services, we do need to be cautious that we have the customer care systems in place to effectively support people through the process.”
