Use Electroneum cryptocurrency to get PSN store credit

 Hmm, now the Vita's PSN is limited to gift cards, I wondered what would happen if you didn't have a bank account to pay for them digitally (Amazon, CDKeys and eBay aside). This experiment from Electroneum lets users top up their store balance with Electroneum and register, then spend the PSN voucher on the Vita. 

At least you can in Columbia, using the Electroneum app (so this is nothing to do with Sony, but an interesting option. One I'm guessing is a trial to see if there's interest and any back-end integration works). The crypto company has a similar deal for Apple vouchers in Saudi Arabia, so could be focusing on growing markets. 

If that's a success, a wider rollout or other PSN code sellers taking crypto is likely. Assuming a more popular coin doesn't start doing this for other territories. For us Vita owners if any of this happens in the US or EU before the handheld's PSN store vanishes forever, its another option. 

Note, having looked at the prices, there is a bit of a premium for using Electroneum, so this isn't the best deal, but does broaden the options for local buyers.

Electrone-what? You may ask. It is a cryptocurrency that is trying to be different to the rest of the pump-and-dump merchants with many practical uses. There's already a booming freelance market where people can get paid in ETN crypto, and users can spend it to top up their phone credit (that does work in the UK on most networks), pay bills and now get PlayStation Store credit on PSN. 

Historically, Electroneum was helping the unbanked in emerging economies, and as a UK-founded crypto coin is also looking to be part of the British Digital Pound movement. I know all this because I've been following the project for years and actually have a small stash of Electroneum, waiting for the big ride! (Well, maybe). 

It is hard to get any data on how many people would use this, apparently PlayStation has 95%+ of the Latin American console market. There's plenty of crypto activity in LATAM, but since this is not a PlayStation announcement (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if PS legal have words about their brands use in the release), this will likely fly under the radar of most local gamers.

Even so, if it gives those without regular banking the opportunity to 

Electroneum's value got a near-25% boost on the news. Currently worth around £0.0095 (call it 1p) per coin, you can buy it on the Kucoin exchange or others if you want stock up on what could be an interesting development in the often-insane world of crypto. This news is the first of 40-some announcements the crypto company plans in the next few months.

Hopefully one of the pieces of news will be it being listed on Coinbase, an app that makes it a lot easier to buy and sell crypto than most exchanges.