Bitcoin’s meteoric price rise hitting record highs has spelled good news for the team behind a growing Isle of Man business.

As the digital currency surged to new heights staff at bitcoin exchange company CoinCorner were deluged with inquiries.

Staff have been kept busy at the tech enterprise which recently moved into bigger premises on the sixth floor of Victory House, Prospect Hill, Douglas.

And last week, at the height of international focus on bitcoin, a pre-arranged talk took place, organised by the company’s female staff members, aimed at encouraging more women to get involved in and learn about bitcoin.

Danny Scott, 32, co-founded CoinCorner in 2014 in a bid to help people buy bitcoins more easily and has become a leading island advocate of the so-called cryptocurrency.

And he revealed to Business News he hopes to unveil a new debit card for bitcoin customers, next year.

The card would allow users to buy their shopping against their bitcoin accounts.

Bitcoin is a digital payment system without a central administrator. Transations are recorded on a public ledger known as the blockchain.

Danny Scott, tech developer Liam Wiltshire, 25, and marketing manager Molly Spiers, 25, sat down with Business News to explain they were delighted to be involved in this ‘exciting’ technology.

Worldwide interest in bitcoin soared last week as the price went higher and higher, reaching $11,000 dollars, before falling back.

Experts say Bitcoin’s price has been buoyed by the recent decision by the giant Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to launch bitcoin futures in response to demand.

Danny said: ‘Bitcoin has been at an all-time high in the last few days and we have been very busy. We’ve been operating for three-and-a-half years now. We now have eight staff and we are planning to take more on. The industry is moving quickly.’

Danny said it had been since about May that bitcoin ‘has really started to take off.’

He said that compared to this time last year the CoinCorner team were 10 times busier. Danny said: ‘We predominantly operate in the UK and Isle of Man but we also operate in most countries inEurope.

‘Traditionally stock exchanges around the world operate Monday to Friday and shut down at the weekend. With bitcoin there is no downtime, it’s 24/7 all year round. ‘

Liam Wiltshire said: ‘We have had more people coming to us from the ‘‘old money’’ background.

‘They are wanting to put money into bitcoin and want to find out more about it. I think at the moment they are more interested in the price of bitcoin rather than the technology.’

CoinCorner is making waves in the island and has been a finalist in the Isle of Man Newspapers’ Awards for Excellence twice.

CoinCorner says some 60 per cent of the company’s customer base is aged 18 to 35 but there has been more interest shown recently by older people.

‘Liam said: ‘We have a very young customer base and that’s bearing in mind most of them are buying it [bitcoin] for investment purposes.’

Liam, Danny and Molly said they are helping to explain to people how bitcoin works.

Danny said the Isle of Man Government’s apparent support in principle to the world of digital currency had been a great help. Some commentators have indeed referred tothe island as ‘Bitcoin island’ in the last few years.

‘We are punching above our weight in the world,’ said Danny who said he was giving an interview to the BBC World Service radio station after our interview.

Bitcoin was launched in 2008 by a mystery computer programmer known only as Satoshi Nakamoto. And there are plenty of critics who say the bubble will soon burstwhile supporters of the ‘virtual currency’ say bitcoin is the future.

An Introduction to Bitcoin for Women talk took place in the office a short time later after the interview with Business News. The talk was organised by the company’s female staff members in a bid to encourage more women to get involved and learn about bitcoin.

There is no doubt bitcoin is a hot topic at the moment, having seen exponential growth since the beginning of the year.

Although public interest is growing rapidly as more people explore the world of digital currency, the majority of interest still comes from men, says Manx born Molly Spiers, the marketing manager.

She said: ‘When I joined CoinCorner in 2015, I was quite surprised to find that I was the only female employee in the company. I soon discovered that a lack of women in the bitcoin industry was not uncommon. It is intimidating at first, but I’ve been nothing but welcomed and encouraged in the space.

‘The industry is notoriously male-dominated, which unfortunately means that women often shy away from getting involved.

‘Over the last couple of years, female interest in bitcoin has increased, however it still remains a minority.

‘The good news though is that in the last six months, we’ve welcomed three more wonderful women to the CoinCorner team who joined me in hosting the talk.’

Molly said the talk with 10 women visitors went well.

More than 20 women have enquired so more talks could well be taking place in the future.

She added: ‘We have actually had a number of men asking if we would be doing a talk for them and/or the general public and given the success of Thursday night, I definitely think we will.’