LONDON, ENGLAND – A burger food truck in London has become the first food vendor in the UK to accept payments in bitcoin.

Burger Bear, near Silicon Roundabout, accepted payment for a burger worth 0.0131 BTC, which is around £7.50.

The founder of Burger Bear, Tom Reaney, said he had become interested in the digital currency six months ago when he bought a Bitcoin for around $100. After seeing its value rise dramatically, he wanted to promote it as a payment method.

London’s Evening Standard reported that since the sale “dozens of people have flocked to the stall to spend the currency.”

Mr Reaney said: “Many people from the technology scene are really keen to make transactions. I’ve got people from all around the world now wanting to buy my burgers. There aren’t many things you can physically spend your coins on so people want to come and play with their imaginary money.”

The customer pays using their digital wallet, and scans the Burger Bear’s QR code to transfer the payment.

Burger Bear’s Reaney plans to continue to take bitcoin payments from customers. Since starting his street food venture in May 2012, he has experimented with other unconventional payment systems, including the mobile app-based credit card payment processing software iZettle. The app allows vendors to accept credit card payments on an ad hoc basis, meaning they wouldn’t need to sign up for an account with a payment processor to take card payments. It also replaced credit card readers with a mobile app that worked on tablets and smartphones.

“I was the first person to take mobile payments with iZettle in London, and