Orange S.A. Looking to Bet on Bitcoin Startups

The idea of getting in early, when it comes to a stock buy, is one that a lot of people either would like to have more often or wish they’d had in the first place.

Buying in early can mean a major gain down the line, and for telecom provider, Orange, it’s looking to make a lot of early buys on companies in the business of bitcoin.

This move gives Orange an unusual distinction in the field, and makes it the first major international phone carrier to put a lot of investment in the technology behind the popular crypto-currency. Orange Silicon Valley’s chief executive officer, Georges Nahon, referred to the technology as “intriguing,” and thus wanted to be in on the action as close to the front of the line as possible.

Admittedly, bitcoin’s salad days almost seem to be behind it.

The value of the currency has dropped over just the last year, and well beyond. Actually mining bitcoin is becoming sufficiently difficult that some question if it’s even profitable after the sheer amount of electricity required to run it is considered. But it’s not so much the currency that’s drawing attention as much as it is the technology that made it possible in the first place.

With a few minor alterations, Bitcoin technology can do quite a bit, from recording changes of ownership of any asset to make transactions easier, or to become a record for stock markets and a host of other possibilities.

But where does Orange come into play on this?

Orange has already been working to build its mobile payment operations so as to make it easier for users to pay for things from a smartphone interface, and having Bitcoin technology on hand could actually help improve that process. This is a protocol that’s already being used to buy goods and services—just look at Overstock.com—and so if it were put to work in mobile devices, it could usher in some new options for mobile devices.

There’s also the undeniable point that other tech venture capital firms—Google Ventures not least among them—are putting investments into bitcoin as well, a move that could mean a lot of potential competition in these fields.

So the question becomes, what is Orange thinking here? Is it looking to get in on the ground floor of some big new operations? Is it looking to incorporate Bitcoin technology into its own operations? There are certainly plenty of possibilities, so keeping an eye on Orange’s push into bitcoin might make for some noteworthy points to follow.