Honduras’ first bitcoin city, Bitcoin Valley, has launched in Santa Lucia. Businesses in the area will accept bitcoin for payment.” In Santa Lucia, we are all going to participate in this project … Accepting bitcoin will open us up to another market and gain more customers,” said a local business owner.
Bitcoin Valley. First Bitcoin City in Honduras
Bitcoin Valley, the first Bitcoin City in Honduras, was launched in the small tourist city of Santarcia, Honduras, 20 minutes from the capital Tegucigalpa.
The initiative was jointly developed by Blockchain Honduras, Guatemalan cryptocurrency exchange Coincaex, the Technical University of Honduras, Decentral Academy, and the municipality of Santa Lucia. Blockchain Honduras announced the launch of Bitcoin Valley on Thursday.
Cesar Andino, owner of Santa Lucia’s Los Robles shopping plaza, where several commercial establishments operate, will accept bitcoin in addition to US dollars and Honduran lempra. He told La Prensa publication last week that he is awaiting receipt of point-of-sale (POS) equipment that will allow him to accept cryptocurrencies, adding.
In Santa Lucia we are all going to participate in this project … Accepting bitcoin will open us up to another market and allow us to get more customers.
“We have to go global. We cannot close ourselves off from technology and we cannot be left behind when other countries are already doing it.”
Carlos Leonardo Paguada Velasquez, founder of Blockchain Honduras and head of the Central American Association of Cryptocurrency Users (Acucrip), told this publication a few days before the official Bitcoin Valley announcement:
about 60 businesses will be launched in the Bitcoin Valley project.
He noted that the owners of these businesses have been trained by Decentral Academy in the use of bitcoin and the technology behind it.
Coincaex provides POS devices to merchants so they can acceptBTC. Regarding bitcoin volatility, Pagada explained that Coincaex “takes all the risk.”
For example, he said, if a family buys a pupusa at a restaurant in Santa Lucia and pays for it with bitcoin, the family’s bitcoin wallet will be deducted the equivalent of the purchase in Lempiras; Coincaex will receiveBTCreceived and remits payment in Lempiras to the restaurant.” Business owners do not receive bitcoin. They will receive Lempira from Coincaex,” he stated.
Ruben Carbajal Velazquez, a professor at the University of Technology, was quoted by Reuters as saying.” The Santa Lucia community will be educated in the use and management of cryptocurrencies, implementing them in different businesses in the region and generating crypto tourism.”
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