“By offering this product to foreigners visiting Argentina, we are helping them make the most of their money and time by avoiding exchanging cash for local currency and letting them make contactless crypto payments in seconds right from their phones.”
Bitso has announced the launch of QR payments for travellers in Argentina, further enabling cusomers from across Latin America to make purchases with crypto assets in a user-friendly way.
The cryptocurrency platform, which has more than 6 million users across LATAM, is making crypto payments easier for foreign visitors in Argentina following Bitso’s September launch of its QR crypto payments service for Argentina residents.
The local service lets Agentinians pay for purchases through the Bitso app by scanning the QR codes of other payment companies supported by the Central Bank. With that launch, Bitso became the first crypto company to offer QR payments in Argentina.
The launch is particularly relevant in Argentina, where QR codes are one of the most common forms of payment: 59% of Argentinians have used QR codes this year, compared with a regional average in Latin America of only 34%.
Bitso’s QR codes allows tourists to use crypto instead of exchanging cash for local currency in Argentina
The new function will let tourists travel using crypto and avoid the inconvenience associated with exchanging cash for local currency.
Google searches for places to travel in Latin America have increased by 113% this year and 78% of Latin Americans now report that they prefer contactless payment methods in the wake of the pandemic.
Santiago Alvarado, SVP of product at Bitso, said: “We are offering tourists from all over the world the possibility of ‘traveling with crypto’ in Argentina, using one of the most widely adopted payment methods in the country. Most restaurants, supermarkets, and shops accept QR payments. By offering this product to foreigners visiting Argentina, we are helping them make the most of their money and time by avoiding exchanging cash for local currency and letting them make contactless crypto payments in seconds right from their phones.”
Bitso’s QR payment service in Argentina allows tourists to choose between digital dollars (USD stablecoins), bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), or DAI. Bitso makes an automatic conversion using the best possible exchange rate and pays the merchant in local currency.
