• latest news

    رسائل حب

    Honduras attracts crypto investor tourists with Bitcoin Valley


     



    Several businesses in the tourist town of Santa Lucia are now accepting
    Bitcoin payments in the hopes it can spur tourism spending. 

    A small tourist town in Honduras has begun accepting Bitcoin payments
    as part of the “Bitcoin Valley” initiative designed to increase tourism
    revenue across 60 local businesses.

    Some locals of Santa Lucia,
    like shopping mall owner Cesar Andino, expect the initiative to open up
    more opportunities for shops in the area and “attract more people who
    want to use this currency,” according to a report from Honduran news outlet La Prensa. Andino added:

    “Accepting
    Bitcoin will allow us to open another market and win more customers. We
    have to globalize. We cannot close ourselves off from technology, and
    we cannot be left behind when other countries are already doing it.”

    The program started on July 28, allowing patrons of local area shops to pay with United States dollars, Honduran Lempira, or Bitcoin (BTC).

    Santa
    Lucia’s municipal government developed the Bitcoin Valley program in
    conjunction with the Coincaex crypto exchange, Blockchain Honduras, and
    the Technological University of Honduras.

    Coincaex is providing
    the equipment and services needed to perform crypto payments, while
    Blockchain Honduras is providing education on the use of crypto wallets.



    La Prensa explained that although customers can pay for goods and services in BTC,
    they will be sending the coins to Coincaex exchange. The exchange then
    instantly sends the value of the BTC in Lempira to the merchant to help
    them avoid loss from price volatility. Therefore, business owners do not
    directly receive BTC as payment under this scheme.

    Local business
    owners hope the Bitcoin Valley will re-spark tourism spending in the
    tropical coastal country after taking a major hit during the COVID-19
    pandemic. Honduras enjoyed about $556 million in annual tourism spending
    in 2019 before plummeting more than 66% in 2020 to $189 million
    according to data from Macrotrends, a global economic tracker.

    Honduras
    joins a small handful of countries in the region that have launched
    similar programs for people to legally pay for goods and services with
    cryptocurrency.

    Related: Morgan Stanley encourages investors to buy battered El Salvador eurobonds

    El Salvador famously adopted BTC as legal tender in 2021 and rolled out a nation-wide effort to educate residents on its utility. It has launched a similar ‘Bitcoin Beach’ tourist attraction at the town of El Zonte.

    Guatemala has its ‘Bitcoin Lake’ initiative at tourism sites around Lake Atitlan
    in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Mayor Cesar Piedrasanta of Panajachel in
    the region has also been mining BTC with energy that he says would
    otherwise be unused and wasted.

    source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/honduras-attracts-crypto-investor-tourists-with-bitcoin-valley

     


    • تعليقات بلوجر
    • تعليقات الفيس بوك
    Item Reviewed: Honduras attracts crypto investor tourists with Bitcoin Valley Rating: 5 Reviewed By: 66bitcoins
    إلى الأعلى