Bitso, the cryptocurrency platform in Latin America, with more than 6 million users, “will enable users of its app from the entire region who travel to Argentina to pay for their purchases with crypto through QR, a very widespread payment method in the country.”
This new facility “allows foreign visitors to travel in crypto and, in addition, avoids having to exchange foreign currency for cash in Argentine pesos at exchange houses.”
The travel industry is “booming after a slump during the health crisis: Google searches for places to travel in Latin America have increased by 113% this year.”
In cryptocurrency adoption, the same region “ranks as the seventh largest market.” according to a Chainalysis study and 78% of Latin Americans “prefer contactless payment methods after the pandemic.” In this context, Argentina is “the first country where Bitso offers the service due to the great adoption of this payment method with 59% of the people who have used it this year, against 34% of the regional average.”
Santiago Alvarado, Senior Vice President of Product at Bitso, said:
“We are offering travelers from all over the world the possibility of ‘traveling in crypto’ to Argentina, using one of the most widely adopted payment methods in the country. Most of restaurants, supermarkets and shops in general accept payments by QR. By enabling this product for foreigners visiting Argentina, we are helping them make the most of their time and money, since they will not need to go to an exchange house to obtain Argentine pesos, and will be able to pay with their balance in crypto or digital dollars. in seconds from your phone”
To make a QR payment in Argentina through the app, the foreign visitor “can choose between digital dollars (USD stablecoins), bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) or DAI.” After choosing the cryptocurrency, Bitso makes “an automatic conversion with the best exchange rate and then makes the payment to the merchant in local currency.”
This new solution for foreigners is “possible thanks to the launch, at the end of last September, of payment with QR in crypto in Argentina, which allows local Bitso users to pay with their balance in the app by scanning the QR of other payment companies enabled by the Central Bank.”
With that launch, Bitso reportedly became “the first crypto company to offer QR payments in Argentina.”
