Bitcoin Acceptance Skyrockets in Venezuela Amid Hyperinflation Crisis

Over 20,000 shops and enterprises in Venezuela will reportedly start accepting crypto by June 1. This news was made available as part of an effort to drive crypto adoption in the hyperinflation-stricken country. 

Earlier today, Panama-based cryptocurrency merchant-gateway startup Cryptobuyer announced a partnership with Venezuelan company Mega Soft, which processes payments for thousands of local businesses via its platform called “Merchant Server.” 

The platform will now accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Dash (DASH), Litecoin (LTC), Tether (USDT) and dozens of other cryptocurrencies along with fiat, thereby adopting the technology on a national scale. Merchants that are paid with cryptocurrencies will have the possibility to instantly settle them to fiat or to store them for future purposes.

Bitcoin wins over fiat in unstable economies

Venezuela’s hyperinflation rate hit 10 million percent at some point last year, making it extremely inefficient to store VES, the local sovereign currency, for longer than one day. Although inflation has since slowed, cryptocurrencies remain a much more stable medium of exchange in Carcas, local reports show.

“This is real financial inclusion,” Farias said of the new partnership in an email sent to Cointelegraph, arguing that cryptocurrencies are even more convenient for everyday shopping in countries like Venezuela than foreign fiat currencies: 

“The use of cash like US Dollars is complicated by many times not having the necessary change at the time of a purchase forcing people to buy more products than they need is here where the use of cryptocurrencies is much more versatile in countries where payment systems are inefficient”

Farias noted that Cryptobuyer’s solution has already been in use in “more than 400 stores” in Venezuela, including a Burger King branch in the Sambil area of Caracas. The companies will now start activating the crypto-friendly system in thousands of “Merchant Sever”-affiliated businesses. “We must have most of them operational by June,” Farias told Cointelegraph.

When asked whether the new system supports Petro, a controversial cryptocurrency championed by President Nicholas Maduro, the Cryptobuyer CEO replied that it is not something they have contemplated thus far.