Latin America

Virtual Panda BTM Launched for Colombian Residents: Dispenses BTC, BCH, DAI, and Dash

16/06/2020 by Idelto Editor

The CEO of Panda Group and the founder of Colombia’s Panda Exchange and physical Panda BTM terminals, Arley Lozano, recently revealed a new product called app.pandabtm.io. The new service is a virtual automated teller machine that dispenses four types of cryptocurrencies; bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin (BTC), DAI, and dash (DASH).

The latest effort from Panda Group is virtual Panda BTM, a “low-cost service for Colombians” looking to purchase four different cryptocurrencies. The platform accepts various Colombian payment methods like Baloto, Efecty, and PSE. Alongside this, users can pay the invoice with another cryptocurrency.

News.Bitcoin.com spoke with the CEO of Panda Group, Arley Lozano, who told our newsdesk about the new virtual Panda BTM. The company Panda Group is a well known Colombian-based crypto firm with a variety of services like Panda Exchange and the physical Panda BTM terminals.

Lozano and his team’s Panda BTM machines are located in numerous areas throughout Colombia and Venezuela. The devices allow merchants to accept digital currencies for every point-of-sale and the machines also act as a BTM.

The latest virtual offering offers sales in bitcoin cash (BCH), dash (DASH), bitcoin (BTC), and the stablecoin DAI. Lozano explained that there’s also a Telegram and Whatsapp bot for the Panda BTM as well.

Essentially, the service allows Colombians to purchase these crypto-assets in less than a few minutes. The application does ask for basic identification information during checkout. Prior to purchase users will need to provide a public cryptocurrency address for receiving as well.

Just like Venezuela, crypto-asset demand in Colombia has been feverish during the last three months. The economy has been dealing with the response to the Covid-19 outbreak and Colombia’s central bank recently cut rates to a historic 2.75% low. Economists believe Colombia’s central bank will cut the benchmark rate even lower going forward.

Two weeks ago the national government, Colombia’s central bank, and the finance ministry’s treasury department swapped 2 trillion pesos ($510 million). The Colombian government and central bank have been playing ping pong with trillions worth of swaps. So far the government and central bank have gathered 7 trillion pesos to-date in swap transactions.

Just like most of the citizenry from countries around the world, Colombians are looking to escape the monetary schemes created by the central bank. Cryptocurrencies are widely known in South America for helping individuals remove themselves from hyperinflation.

Statistics from Coin Dance and other trade volume data sites show that peer-to-peer bitcoin trade volumes in Colombia have been through the roof. Panda Group’s latest Panda BTM will add even more crypto-accessibility for Colombia’s residents, Lozano stressed.

What do you think about the virtual Panda BTM? Let us know in the comments section below.

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P2P Bitcoin Trade Volumes and Inflation in Latin America Are on the Rise

16/05/2020 by Idelto Editor

During the last two months since the March 12 crypto market rout, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ demand for cryptocurrencies seems to be on the rise in certain regions in Latin America. Various reports published this week have noted that countries like Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico have seen significant bitcoin trade volumes. However, other reports show that even though the volumes are high in these specific countries, they are hard to measure due to inflation or hyperinflation.

Trade Volumes Spike in Countries Like Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina, But the Region’s Fiat Currencies Are Also Stricken by High Inflation

A lot of bitcoin trade volume has been taking place in a variety of Latin American countries. Peer-to-peer marketplaces that sell cryptocurrencies are seeing strong volumes in these regions. According to Coin Dance volume statistics, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile have seen significant bitcoin trade volumes on Localbitcoins week after week. Venezuela and Argentina bitcoin trade volumes indicate new all-time highs and the trend can be seen on Paxful, Mycrypto, Local.Bitcoin.com, and other platforms as well. Because of this vast crypto trade volume in Latin America, it had prompted a number of financial news outlets to report that there is significant demand stemming from these areas. For instance, Nikkei Asian Review staff writer Naoyuki Toyama recently wrote that “bitcoin shines in emerging markets plagued by falling currencies,” and “from Bueno Aires to Beirut, investors embrace cryptocurrency as a safe haven.”

Despite the reports, a few media outlets like Decrypt, Crypto Globe, and a few others showed a different side of the story. For instance, it seems people are not taking into account that the fiat currencies in these countries are becoming less valuable every day. Yes, the volumes are at an all-time high in Argentina, but inflation is worse than it has ever been for Argentines in three decades. Well before the coronavirus, Argentina’s inflation rate hit 53.8% at the end of 2019.

Venezuela is the same way, as the inflation rate for Venezuelans is massive. In February 2020 the inflation rate was 2,910%, but it did fall to 2,430% in March. However, the significantly larger inflation rate in Venezuela makes it the worst inflation rate in the world by a long shot. Despite the fact that Localbitcoins trade volumes in the country are touching an all-time high, it doesn’t compare to the trade volumes in 2017 when the bolivar was worth more.

Issues With the Iranian Rial and the Fall of the US Dollar

The Covid-19 pandemic has made things worse in these countries as the economies in Chile, Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico, and all the other regions with high BTC trade volumes have worsened. The troubles have gotten so bad in Venezuela, this week President Nicolas Maduro enacted a rent and wage freeze across the whole country. On many occasions, Localbitcoins data has had some discrepancies, particularly when it used to serve Iran. Not too long ago, many individuals and publications said that Iranians were paying $24,000 per BTC.

The problem with that price estimate was a common misconception about the exchange rate in Iran and how it works. At the time, people observed that one BTC was around a billion Iranian rials, but the exchange rate math is entirely different. An Iranian national named Mehran Jalali explained when these $24K per BTC headlines came out, how people can get the market rate using USD, and the Iranian rial. “The going market rate for the U.S. dollar to the Iranian rial is one dollar to 136,500 rials,” Jalali said this past January. Making things even more confusing, news.Bitcoin.com’s Kevin Helms reported on how Iranian lawmakers recently discussed slashing four zeros from the rial. Localbitcoins, however, banned Iranian traders from swapping digital currencies on the platform and residents now have to leverage other options.

It’s hard to measure how much demand is stemming from any country based on Localbitcoins volumes alone. Especially when there are huge discrepancies and massive inflation ruining these fiat currencies from various Latin American countries. The same could be said for the U.S. dollar someday, and economists have predicted the end of the USD after the petro-dollar collapse. Analysts forecast that BTC could reach 1 million dollars, at some point in time, and it very well could happen in the midst of hyperinflation in the U.S. if it was to occur. A number of economists think that the demise of USD very well could happen especially amid the Federal Reserve creating trillions of dollars out of thin air. So if you think about it logically and envision BTC touching a million USD per coin — Would it be very meaningful if the USD was near worthless?

What do you think about the trade volumes in Latin America taking inflation into consideration? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments below.

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Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway Gocrypto Onboards 1,000 Locations Worldwide

02/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

On February 28, Gocrypto CEO Dejan Roljic revealed the payment gateway has officially onboarded 1,000 merchant locations during a recent company update that expanded upon the firm’s growth. Roljic also explained Gocrypto now has several locations in five countries and the company recently started expanding into South America in November 2019. The Latin American expansion means Gocrypto will be open in 13 new markets and the team hopes to onboard as many stores in the region as possible.

Also read: MTV Airs Only the Negative Parts of Crypto Youtuber ‘Ya Girl’ Rachel Siegel’s Bitcoin Analysis

1,000 Locations and International Expansion

The payment gateway Gocrypto has been making strides toward cryptocurrency adoption and this week the firm’s CEO Dejan Roljic announced the team has onboarded 1,000 locations worldwide. News.Bitcoin.com first reported on Gocrypto in June 2018, when the business helped create a “genuine Bitcoin City” within the confines of Slovenia’s largest shopping center.

Slovenia is Gocrypto’s home base and after the launch of Bitcoin City, the company continued to make headway onboarding merchants throughout the country. Last year, news.Bitcoin.com explained that Slovenia has the most BCH-accepting physical locations worldwide and this was fueled by Gocrypto’s efforts. Roljic’s CEO update on Friday not only announced that Gocrypto has captured 1,000 locations worldwide, but the firm has been expanding internationally.

“We entered Croatia in May 2019 and continued our expansion to Switzerland, Hungary and Bulgaria,” Roljic wrote. “Gocrypto is also available for customers in the United Kingdom, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, and Portugal.”

Roljic further highlighted that Gocrypto is now present in South America and the company recently partnered with Xpay.cash. “[The startup Xpay] is a partner provider of easy crypto payments [and is] successfully growing its presence in Columbia and Venezuela,” Roljic’s update explained. “150 locations strong, they are also planning on expanding to other South American countries.” The Gocrypto CEO said that now that the firm has legal approval in the region, the company plans to “boost these markets with a systematic approach.” Roljic stated:

Our SWAT mobile sales teams will open up to 13 new markets; in each, the goal is to onboard 20–50 stores to start accepting Gocrypto payments, launch the ambassador program and acquire as many PSPs as possible.

Gocrypto Plans to Upgrade the Merchant Dashboard and Offer New Point-of-Sale Terminals

Additionally, Roljic revealed that a new merchant dashboard is being constructed and soon merchants can become a crypto exchange by leveraging the firm’s hardware point-of-sale (PoS) terminals.

“We are in the final stage of testing our own physical PoS terminals that will enable merchants to buy and sell selected cryptocurrencies as well as to accept crypto payments,” Roljic stressed. Lastly, the firm is also in the midst of attempting to obtain a license for financial services from the central bank. Roljic conceded that the project is “demanding” but will represent “a big step forward in the crypto industry.”

Roljic added that Gocrypto wants to conquer the world, and in the future they can envision every merchant having the ability to become their own exchange by being able to sell digital currencies at the counter. The Slovenia-based firm is also currently talking with companies worldwide that manage “millions of physical merchants” and the firm aims to integrate Gocrypto into their point-of-sale (PoS) or cashier systems.

What do you think about Gocrypto’s expansion and the 1,000 locations the company has onboarded to-date? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Map.Bitcoin.com, Fair Use, and Gocrypto.

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BCH Latam: Creating a Viral Feedback Loop for Mass Adoption With Bitcoin Cash

14/02/2020 by Idelto Editor

From Dash to Bitcoin Cash - George Donnelly Discusses the BCH Latam Initiative

This week news.Bitcoin.com spoke with George Donnelly from the BCH Latam initiative about his plan to help the people of Latin America “achieve greater individual liberty and prosperity.” Donnelly explained the BCH Latam initiative aims to generate greater financial inclusion through mass adoption systems and the organization’s gamified adoption app will help with this goal.

Also Read: 3 Cents per kWh – Central Asia’s Cheap Electricity Entices Chinese Bitcoin Miners

From Dash to Bitcoin Cash: George Donnelly Discusses the BCH Latam Initiative

George Donnelly is a libertarian entrepreneur who recently worked with the Dash Latin America (Dash Latam) effort, but has since moved his focus over to bitcoin cash (BCH). Not too long after, Donnelly officially launched BCH Latam and hopes to help spread liberty and economic freedom to residents living in Latin America. Donnelly started crowdfunding the initiative to help further the project’s goals and he used the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) to create PAN token. PAN will be used to help bolster adoption, create gamification and leverage SLP attributes like dividends as well. Donnelly told our newsdesk that the team has sold 1% so far and aim to give the PAN token life by applying merchant acceptance for goods and services. While chatting with news.Bitcoin.com, the BCH proponent also discussed his views about the current state of Bitcoin Cash.

BCH Latam: Creating a Viral Feedback Loop for Mass Adoption With Bitcoin Cash — George Donnelly launched the BCH Latam Initiative.

Bitcoin.com (BC): Can you tell our readers how you got into spreading cryptocurrency adoption?

George Donnelly (GD): As a libertarian activist during the Ron Paul years, I couldn’t help but discover Bitcoin. And understanding Bitcoin meant I couldn’t help but start using it and inviting others to use it. With the 2017 price run-up, it seemed like a good time to finally work on mass adoption. So, in early 2018 I started affiliating merchants for Dash in Medellín, Colombia, my home now for nearly 20 years.

BC: You once worked with the Dash community. Can you explain why you left the Dash community and have been promoting bitcoin cash recently?

GD: Bitcoin Cash has more promising conditions that should enable us to achieve our goals, which include onboarding 1 billion new daily crypto users by 2030 and solving the inflows challenge. Bitcoin Cash has a larger community with a welcoming and positive attitude that is focused on market-based growth and Bitcoin as P2P electronic cash.

Dash has abandoned its Latin America and digital cash strategies and is now pursuing a venture capital and dapps strategy.

BC: Can you tell us about the BCH Latm initiative?

GD: We created BCH Latam in order to serve the people of Latin America in their efforts to achieve greater individual liberty and prosperity. We aim to generate greater financial inclusion through self-sustaining BCH adoption systems with a strong focus on the informal economy. The informal economy in Latin America includes 150 million working people, 53% of jobs and one-third of regional GDP. Informal economy entrepreneurs are excluded from economic growth by excessive government bureaucracy, taxes, and fees. Business activities that we take for granted, such as formal asset registration, incorporation, credit, and banking, are not readily available to the informal economy.

BCH Latam aims to build a thriving Bitcoin Cash ecosystem in Latin America with a bowling pin strategy of merchant adoption, remittances, B2B buying, international trade and more. We’ve honed our plan with more than two years of research and fieldwork in Latin America, where we have team members in six nations plus Spain. Our gamified adoption app will enable indie BCH adoption workers to earn their way into Bitcoin Cash by completing verifiable tasks that add concrete value to the Bitcoin Cash network. Gamified adoption is a viral feedback-loop system to kickstart BCH adoption globally in parallel at a low cost.

BCH Latam is in this to kickstart the Bitcoin Cash commons in Latin America, provide superior value to the developing world through BCH and eventually make Bitcoin Cash the international currency of Latin America. We aim to leverage our results to create a groundswell of buzz for Bitcoin Cash across the globe.

BC: What prompted the idea to start crowdfunding and create a video presentation?

GD: Remittances are a key early bowling pin for us, but it is an industry that requires a multi-location approach and a serious marketing and development plan. There is no formal funding mechanism for Bitcoin Cash projects and the Bitcoin Cash Ecosystem Fund is taking some time to get off the ground, so we aim to offer value for value by giving our donors our fixed-supply PAN token. Our PAN token enables donors to both show off their support for BCH Latam and potentially profit from our success in the future. We are also seeking feedback from the Bitcoin Cash community on our plans and activities, as well as new members to join our team. We hope to attract a CFO and lead developer from within the BCH community this month.

BC: Which specific countries in Latin America do you think need the most attention?

GD: We’re focused on Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Chile, roughly in that order. Colombia sends a lot of small remittances to Venezuela, often paying fees as high as 40%. Mexico is the largest remittance recipient in Latam, and the third largest in the world, with $36 billion in 2018 inflows. Cuba is a small market that is experiencing high remittance fees and difficulties due to US sanctions.

BC: How do you expect to create a “viral, feedback-loop mass adoption system”?

GD: Our gamified adoption app will present the end-user with a series of tasks they can complete to earn our PAN tokens. Tasks will begin with watching videos that teach them about Bitcoin Cash and progress to onboarding merchants, becoming liquidity agents, referring new remittance senders, spending BCH, providing support to merchants, holding meetups, starting Bitcoin Cash businesses and more. Think of it as a hybrid of Duolingo, Uber, a choose-your-own-adventure novel and a mechanical Turk. All tasks will be verifiable. Verification will be done via gamification by more advanced users and/or by an in-house quality control team. We will be able to limit the use of the system by market and country, thus ensuring that each market develops in a balanced manner.

By enabling new users to earn their way into Bitcoin Cash, we remove the barrier to entry of having to buy-in. This also helps solve the inflows challenge.

BC: What are PAN tokens?

GD: PAN is an SLP token with a fixed 400,000 token supply that we are selling in order to finance our profit-seeking BCH remittances business plan. We have sold about 1% of the 180,000 currently for sale. We aim to give our PAN token real-world utility by having our merchants accept it for goods and services and by making it the currency of our gamified adoption app. We’ve apportioned up to 45% of the total supply to finance 15 to 18 months of runway for our BCH remittances startup Panmoni, 25% for the team and 30% for the gamified adoption app or possibly a second financing round. Full details are available at bchlatam.com/crowdfunding2020.

BC: Do you think Bitcoin Cash will ever become a global currency or something that’s just used by a niche group?

GD: I believe that Bitcoin Cash can become the dominant currency of the world. Our challenge is to build real consumer utility that crosses the chasm and is adopted by mainstream users to meet regular and basic needs. Remittances are a repeat-use $689 billion per year industry that promises to be an excellent first stepping-stone towards regular, global use for Bitcoin Cash.

BC: How do you feel about the current state of Bitcoin Cash as far as ecosystem and development growth?

GD: The irregular block times and the passionate furor over the Infrastructure Funding Plan are a bit unsettling. The frequent meetups, the number, and variety of developers read.cash, memo.cash, the people working on merchant adoption, Bitcoin.com, the welcoming and supportive attitude of the community, and Local.Bitcoin.com are all very encouraging.

We urgently need to move forward on ecosystem funding, regular block times and instantly-settled transactions. We need more mobile developers. A reduced focus on passionate philosophical debate and an increased focus on practical, systematic business plans would be good. It’s important people realize that we need to solve the inflows challenge in order to progress beyond small-scale, hobbyist merchant and consumer adoption. Almost no one is talking about this. I’d like to see software development revolve around more evidenced, researched and properly presented business use cases so we can use resources effectively to grow real use in the real world.

What do you think about the BCH Latam initiative and George Donnelly’s efforts? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, BCH Latam Initiative, Fair Use, and Pixabay.

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Digital Remittances Reach Record High of $96 Billion, Fees Charged by Traditional Providers Open Door for Cryptocurrencies

14/02/2020 by Idelto Editor

In a globalized world where labor follows capital, the remittance industry has been growing constantly in both volume and users. Traditional providers like banks and money transfer companies have been charging high fees for their services which creates opportunities for alternative digital platforms and decentralized cryptocurrencies.

Also read: Russians Can Use Qiwi, Sberbank, Yandex Money and Now Binance P2P Exchange to Buy Bitcoin With Rubles

Digital Remittance Volume Projected to Touch $143 Billion by 2023

According to numbers gathered by market data provider Statista, the total transaction value of digital remittances, cross-border transfers made over the internet, has reached almost $95.96 billion in 2020, representing a year-over-year increase of more than 21%. At the same time, the number of users in this segment of the remittance market has been estimated at 8.5 million (+20.5% yoy). Both indicators are projected to increase by 2023, to over $143 billion in volume and 13.2 million users.

Last year, the largest share of users (32%) were between 25 and 34 years old, and another 25% were aged 35-44 years, a majority from labor-active age groups. The average annual transaction value per user in the digital remittances segment amounts to a little over $11,233 according to the data released this year. Five countries, United States, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and China, top the transaction value comparison chart. With a total transaction value of $21.297 billion, the U.S. is the pronounced global leader and Switzerland comes in second with $7.969 billion.

Total transaction value in the digital remittances segment, Source: Statista — Global comparison, transaction value. Source: Statista

The authors of the report note that remittances often occur on a regular basis and most of the user groups are not inclined to change their fund transfer provider very often. The sector is dominated by established service providers such as banks, post offices and money transfer processors like Western Union and Moneygram. The relatively high fees they charge has opened the way for alternative platforms such as Transferwise, Worldremit and Remitly, Statista points out, which have managed to cut costs by optimizing the use of digital infrastructures.

Ripple’s Latest Remittance Service Agreements Turn the Tide for XRP

While there have been various developments around XRP recently, some of them have influenced its market in a positive way. Two partnerships have been announced this month in which Ripple, the company associated with the cryptocurrency, will be providing remittance services. The price of XRP, the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, spiked over the past couple of days, from a low of $0.2678 on Feb. 11 to a high of $0.3288 early on Feb. 13. Although the crypto lost some of the gains later on Thursday, the price jump is remarkable as it comes after a difficult year for one of the top coins.

According to media reports this week, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country’s largest financial institution by assets and branches, has signed a cooperation agreement with Ripple to open a new channel for receiving remittances from Egyptians that live and work abroad. The bank said it wanted to employ Ripple’s blockchain solutions to further develop its remittance business supporting transfers from around the world and particularly the Gulf region.

The Egyptian deal follows another similar agreement announced by Ripple earlier in February. The company revealed it’s going to work with International Money Express (Intermex), a leading remittance services provider focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean corridor, to address the challenges with slow and expensive cross-border payments. Intermex plans to leverage Ripplenet for faster remittances between the United States and Mexico. Ripple claims the network links over 300 banks and financial institutions globally.

According to the World Bank, Mexico ranks third among countries with the highest number of remittance recipients. Data published by Banco de México, the nation’s central bank, shows that Mexican emigrants have sent home a record $36 billion in 2019, a 7% increase over the previous year’s almost $33.7 billion. Most of the money, a large portion of which comes from the U.S., has been transferred electronically and in small transactions averaging around $300. Intermex is one of the largest money remitters between the two countries processing more than $30 million in transactions annually.

The status quo in the digital segment of the remittance market undoubtedly creates opportunities for decentralized cryptocurrencies as well. Transaction fees in the case of bitcoin cash (BCH), for example, are less than a cent per transfer. Certain regions can benefit significantly – a 2019 report by the World Bank revealed that the average cost to send the equivalent of $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa is 9.3% of the transferred value, as news.Bitcoin.com reported last year. In 2018, African expatriates sent $46 billion to their home countries.

What are your expectations about the future of the remittance industry? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Statista.

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