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Kickstarter will launch in the U.K. this fall

The popular crowdfunding platform is about to take its first step outside U.S. borders. Could the rest of Europe be next?

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Chase Hoffberger

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Open up the floodgates. Kickstarter is headed to Great Britain.

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The über-popular crowdfunding platform announced today that residents of the United Kingdom will be able to use the site to launch projects beginning this autumn.

Kickstarter announced the news via Twitter, so details of the development were limited to 140 characters—what’s more, the company chose to use six of those characters to make three of the popular “<3” hearts—but it’s likely that Kickstarter’s decision has something to do with Amazon Payments’s 2011 expansion into the U.K.

In a 2009 blog post, Kickstarter cofounder Yancey Strickler wrote that the site couldn’t cater to international projects because Amazon Payments, Kickstarter’s longtime payment processor, only worked with U.S. bank accounts.

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There’s no word on the exact date in which Kickstarter will become available to U.K. residents, and the company’s been mum on its plans to expand to other countries in Europe. The company has not returned the Daily Dot’s request for comment.

Kickstarter’s expansion means that U.S. backers will be able to pledge money towards the British iteration of an inspirational Tom Hanks statue.

How many backers would it take to build a monument to Colin Firth?

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Photo via Mostly Dans

 
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