People can pay for a slushie with cryptocurrency in the streets of “bitcoin valley,” a project in the Honduran tourist enclave of Santa Lucia, through which the country has entered the digital currency trend.
The small town in the mountains, 20 minutes from the capital, Tegucigalpa, has become a bitcoin city.
Owners of businesses big and small are adapting to handle cryptocurrencies as payment, hoping to attract more tourism.
Photo: Reuters
“It will open more opportunities and attract more people who want to use this currency,” said Cesar Andino, manager of the Los Robles shopping square.
The bitcoin valley project targets 60 businesses to initially get trained and adopt cryptocurrencies to market their products and services, expecting to spread these practices to more enterprises and nearby areas.
The initiative was jointly developed by the Blockchain Honduras organization, Guatemalan cryptocurrency exchange consortium Coincaex, the Technological University of Honduras and the Santa Lucia City Government.
“Santa Lucia’s community will be educated to use and manage cryptocurrencies, implementing them in different businesses in the region and generating cryptotourism,” said Ruben Carbajal Velazquez, a professor at the Technological University.
While some Latin American countries are exploring cryptocurrencies’ potential, there are risks.
In September last year, El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender after introducing its own “bitcoin beach” in the surfing hot spot town of El Zonte.
The Central American country’s bet on bitcoin was hampered by a cryptomarket downturn, and skepticism from multilateral lenders and ratings agencies. Its publicly disclosed holdings of US$105 million are now worth about US$57 million.
To deal with volatility, the bitcoin valley project would “enable merchants to receive instant payments in the local currency, eliminating cryptocurrencies fluctuation risks,” Blockchain Honduras founder Leonardo Paguada said.
Critics of bitcoin’s expansion have warned that these kinds of operations might fuel money laundering and financial instability while enhancing the digital gap, as poorer residents might struggle to access the technology.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS