Grand Central, Valletta’s growing co-working, serviced office and hot-desk centre, is now accepting payments in bitcoin. It is the first company of its sort in Malta to do so.

The announcement was made at the end of last week’s evening event hosted at Grand Central and featuring guest speaker Ravinder Deol, an international producer of cryptocurrency training courses.

Grand Central offers membership plans to suit different working styles, from a hot desk by the hour to a dedicated co-working desk or private office rented by the month. There are no hefty upfront payments and no hassle or time wasted in managing office facilities and services.

In addition to providing members with fully serviced workspaces, Grand Central also has exclusivity in Malta to offer three international partnership services.

A London linkup includes guest membership of five business clubs in London operated by The Brew, providing members with a London base and business community with whom to network.

The second service is an online virtual mail room: this exclusive use of the iPostalMail platform in Malta provides members with mail scanning to their personal accounts, forwarding, secure disposal and archiving, giving members rarely in the office immediate access to their mail.

Members can also avail of a managed smartphone app with international landlines. A choice of personal international landline numbers routed to a smartphone allows members to have a permanent local presence abroad while also benefiting from lower international call charges.

Commenting on the decision to accept bitcoin, Iain Harvey, founder of Grand Central, said: “We are always looking at what extra flexibility we can give our members and this time it’s what payment channels we offer.

“Cryptocurrencies have had a very volatile year but by partnering with bitpay we can accept bitcoin without the risk. Our flexibility is paying off as our membership numbers continue to increase.

“We have freelancers just visiting Malta for a few months and also more established contractors who are avoiding the isolation or distraction of working from home. Grand Central continues to support even more startups and growing businesses in Malta.”