2023-09-06 16:17:00
We know that the acceptance of cryptos is particularly high in South America, several countries can be called maximally crypto-friendly. Colombia was perhaps mentioned less often in this context, even though there is also a serious community of cryptos and especially bitcoin. A perfect example of this is José Luis Garcia, a local entrepreneur who launched his Lightning Koffee startup in Medellin, Colombia’s coffee capital, back in October. He makes his coffee, which he calls the coffee of bitcoiners, from coffee bought from local producers, and trusts that it will help sow the seeds of interest in bitcoin among the local population. In Colombia, there is still a lot to do in terms of accepting bitcoin.At a company called Lightning Koffee, you can only pay with cryptocurrencies at the moment. As García said, he doesn’t care if someone pays with shitcoin, he sees it as the same money. According to his plans, he will soon launch Visa and MasterCard payment options, but then he will stop accepting cryptos other than bitcoin. And this is not the first such startup in Medellin. Back in June 2022, the first crypto restaurant, Mind Cafe, opened in the hottest part of Medellín. Here, in addition to being able to pay with bitcoin and Lightning, guests can immerse themselves in a metaverse environment where they can create their own avatar and buy Colombian food with bitcoin. The local Bitcoin maximalist community is therefore growing, but according to crypto people who know local conditions well, the breakthrough is still far away. A significant part of the population is not well versed in financial matters to understand why the ailing peso is not good for them and what kind of solution Bitcoin would represent. BTC is still only viewed as a speculative asset by most. However, bitcoin would also be a perfect tool to take away the power of complete control from corrupt politicians. At the moment, you can still officially pay with bitcoin in only six places in Medellín, and 106 places in Colombia in total. More than 450 stores in Salvador accept BTC. By the way, most shops are reluctant to accept bitcoin for payment, not because of regulatory issues, but because of the volatility of the exchange rate.
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