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The first cryptocurrency ATM opened in Honduras this week, as Bitcoin backers boost demand for virtual assets, after neighboring El Salvador became the first country to consider Bitcoin as legal tender .
The machine, locally called “La Bitcoinera”, allows users to obtain Bitcoin and Ethereum using the local currency Limpira, and was installed in an office tower in the capital Tegucigalpa by the Honduran company TGU Consulting Group.
TGU CEO Juan Mayen, 28, has led efforts to bring ATMs to Honduras in the hopes of spreading a culture of virtual assets among citizens through first-hand experience. So far, he said, there is no automated way to buy cryptocurrency.
“You had to do it directly with someone else by looking for someone (…) willing to do it, and meet them in person with a certain amount of money, which is very inconvenient and dangerous considering environment in Honduras, ”he said.
Today, Friday, Ethereum hit $ 3,237 and Bitcoin hit $ 48,140. If the service wins, Mayne said he hopes to install more units.
To make a purchase, the user must scan the official identity and enter personal data such as a phone number.
Mayne said many software developers in Honduras are already paid in cryptocurrency, adding that it would also be a cheaper option for sending remittances.
In June, El Salvador’s Congress approved a proposal by President Neb Bukele to make the country the first in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Elsewhere in the region, Panamanian lawmakers have introduced bills regulating the use of bitcoin as legal tender.
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