The new ATM point is located in a wine bar in the city of Mérida. Among the plans of the company is to enable a third BATM in the capital city of Caracas.
The options for the purchase, sale and use of cryptocurrencies in Venezuela continue to increase. On this occasion, the second mobile Bitcoin automatic teller machine (BATM) to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, manufactured by the Colombian company Panda Group, has been activated in the state of Mérida, in the Andean region of Venezuela.
The Panda Group team confirmed the activation of Venezuela’s second BATM in the city of Mérida. This device is working at Bodca Bodegón, business premises located in the capital of the Andean district, Mérida.
Typson Sánchez, CTO of the company in charge of the device, reported that since they activated the first cryptocurrency point of sale (PoS), at the beginning of August, the people from Mérida have shown high levels of demand and curiosity. For that reason, they decided to convert that PoS into a BATM, which allows the sale of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
The new device also allows selling cryptocurrencies, as well as making payments with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dash (DASH) and the stablecoin DAI for the products of the wine bar, where the BATM is operating.
In addition to the two BATMs that are operating in Mérida, Sánchez confirmed that among his expansion plans is the activation of another device. In regard to that new equipment, they are now talking with a department store in the city of Caracas, Venezuelan capital, according to statements by the CTO of Panda.
The payment processor of the company, XPay, has also been gaining ground among Venezuelan businesses. First, the Farmarket pharmacy chain adopted the XPay gateway to receive payments with cryptocurrencies. Then, the company announced that it had exceeded a hundred stores that use its service between Venezuela and Colombia.
Cryptocurrency Popularity Is Growing in Venezuela
Due to the Venezuelan economic situation, the hyperinflation and the constant loss in the value of the sovereign bolivar (VES), the local currency, Venezuelans have been showing an increasing interest in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Not only is Venezuela among the countries with the largest trade in Bitcoin on the peer-to-peer (P2P) platform LocalBitcoins, but payment options, as well as the purchase and sale, have increased in recent months.
Since early October of this year, Venezuelans have had a Bitcoin ATM (BATM) for the purchase of Bitcoin and Dash. The machine is located in one of the Caracas branches of Traki, one of the main department stores in the country, which also accepts payments with cryptocurrencies. To do this, Traki uses the payment gateway of the Asian company Pundi X.
It should be noted that Pundi X has shown its intention to enter the Latin American market, using Venezuela as its gateway. In this regard, executives of the company have recognized that there is competition in terms of cryptocurrency points of sale in the country.
By Willmen Blanco
