Bitso launches QR code payments for crypto in Argentina
“This is an especially important product offering for Argentina as it provides users protection from the adverse economic factors such as inflation and currency devaluation.”
Bitso has launched a crypto-enabled QR code payments system in Argentina in a move that affects directly its more than one million customers in Argentina to make everyday payments from the Bitso app at any store that accepts QR code payments.
If users choose to make a payment with cryptocurrency, an automatic conversion to Argentine pesos will be made through the Bitso app at an optimal exchange rate. The payment will then be sent to the merchant. If the payment is made directly with pesos, no charge applies.
Argentina has high adoption rates of QR codes
The cryptocurrency platform in Latin America has over 5 million users and has chosen Argentina as the first country where QR payments will be available. The new function will be enabled progressively for Argentinean customers starting on September 27, 2022.
Bitso targeted this market in particular due to exceptionally high adoption rates of QR codes as a payment method, according to the Mastercard New Payments Index, which says 59% of Argentinians have used QR payments in the last year, compared to the 34% regional average.
According to the Mastercard report, 83% of people expect to pay with QR codes in the next year, well above the average in Latin America, which is 63%.
Santiago Alvarado, Senior Vice President of Product at Bitso, said: “This launch is a testament to our proactive approach to creating crypto-based financial products that are useful in people’s daily lives while providing a solution to the challenges inherent in the financial landscape of Latin America. This is an especially important product offering for Argentina as it provides users protection from the adverse economic factors such as inflation and currency devaluation. In addition to increasing financial opportunities for users, Bitso is fulfilling its mission to make crypto useful.”
Everest tapped Bitso for MXN payments
Crypto custodian Everest has tapped LATAM-based crypto platform Bitso in order to provide users with the ability to receive cross-border transactions from the US, Europe, and Singapore into Mexico.
Everest provides its users with instant banking rails for US Dollars, Euros, Singapore Dollars, and other currencies, and through the partnership with Bitso, any person in Mexico can receive their funds in MXN pesos.
The funds are transferable via Everest’s programmable and licensed stablecoins, which Everest converts through Bitso to Pesos for Mexico-based users.
A study by the World Bank found that the average cost of sending $200 globally was of 6% ($12) in 2021. The team-up between Everest and Bitso will allow users to reduce the average cost of remittance transfers to 3%, which can increase disposable income for remittance-receiving families.
Using the crypto ecosystem for remittances avoids the days-long settlement process of traditional cross-border payments and can save families an additional US$20 billion annually as the The Mexico-US corridor – the second-largest international remittance corridor in the world – exceeded $54 billion in 2021.
