Bitcoin Valley, the first bitcoin city in Honduras, has
launched in Santa Lucia. Businesses in the area will accept bitcoin for
payments. “In Santa Lucia, we are all going to participate in this
project … Accepting bitcoin will open us to another market and win more
customers,” said a local business owner.
Bitcoin Valley: First Bitcoin City in Honduras
Bitcoin Valley, the first bitcoin city in Honduras, has launched in
the small Honduran tourist town of Santa Lucia, located 20 minutes from
the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
The initiative was jointly developed by Blockchain Honduras,
Guatemalan cryptocurrency exchange Coincaex, the Technological
University of Honduras, Decentral Academy, and Santa Lucia’s
municipality. Blockchain Honduras announced the launch of Bitcoin Valley
Thursday.
Cesar Andino, owner of Los Robles shopping square in Santa Lucia
where several commercial establishments operate, will accept bitcoin in
addition to U.S. dollars and Honduran lempiras. He told La Prensa
publication last week that he is waiting to receive a point-of-sale
(POS) device that would allow him to accept the cryptocurrency, adding:
In Santa Lucia, we are all going to participate in this
project … Accepting bitcoin will open us to 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,”
he added.
Carlos Leonardo Paguada Velasquez, founder of Blockchain Honduras and
a representative of the Central American Association of Cryptocurrency
Users (Acucrip), told the publication a few days before the official
launch of Bitcoin Valley:
Around 60 businesses will start with the Bitcoin Valley project.
He noted that owners of these businesses have received training by
Decentral Academy on the use of bitcoin and the technology behind it.
Coincaex is providing POS devices to merchants to allow them to accept BTC. Regarding the volatility of bitcoin, Paguada explained that Coincaex “assumes all risks.”
For example, he said if a family buys pupusas in a restaurant in
Santa Lucia and pays with bitcoin, the equivalent purchase amount in
lempiras will be deducted from the family’s bitcoin wallet. Coincaex
will receive BTC
and transfer the payment in lempiras to the restaurant. “Business
owners will not receive bitcoin. They will receive lempiras from
Coincaex,” he clarified.
Ruben Carbajal Velazquez, professor at the Technological University,
was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Santa Lucia’s community will be
educated to use and manage cryptocurrencies, implementing them in
different businesses in the region and generating crypto-tourism.”
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-valley-launches-in-honduras-60-businesses-accept-btc-to-boost-crypto-tourism/
