Matthew Mellon believes in Bitcoin, the digital currency that bypasses the US government and the banking system.
The heir to a Pittsburgh banking dynasty has been secretly working for 18 months incubating seven Bitcoin startups, including Coin.co, a merchant processing platform that converts Bitcoin into cash for retailers.
“The banks are scared s - - tless because Bitcoin is free,” Mellon told me. “You can send it around the world immediately without a bank holding it or charging you fees.”
Mellon has 19 coders on the 35th floor of One Penn Plaza working on his new ventures.
The King’s College, a liberal arts school in the Financial District, now accepts Bitcoin.
The college’s president Dr. Gregory Thornbury said, “We have a strong emphasis on the founding documents of the US, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights . . . Bitcoin represents that, it’s the empowerment of individuals.”