The small Central American country is launching a bitcoin valley develop the region and boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Businesses in the city of Santa Lucia, Honduras are now accepting payments in BTC. The country, a neighbor of El Salvador, aims to be crypto hub in the region.
Honduras Aims to Become a Global Crypto Hub
Honduras, a Central American country and neighbor of El Salvador, launch “Bitcoin Valley”, project in the city of Santa Lucia, in the country, for attract cryptocurrency investors from all over the world. According to a Reuters report, a wide variety of businesses in the city are now accepting bitcoin payments.
With the “Bitcoin Valley”, Honduras is looking to enter the booming world of crypto-assets. The latest announcement from the Central American nation comes nearly 10 months after neighboring El Salvador officially adopted BTC as legal tender. El Salvador also has millions of dollars worth of BTC.
Not to be outdone by its neighbor El Salvador, Honduras has launched a ‘Bitcoin Valley’ i city located 20 minutes from its capital Tegucigalpa. The Central American nation is trying to promote the use of bitcoin, committing to form 60 companies and accept cryptocurrency for their products and services.
Glen Bitcoin Lanzamiento@Blockchain504 @coincaex @UTHEDU pic.twitter.com/36cTLeB2ao
—Blockchain Honduras (@Blockchain504) July 28, 2022
César Andino, head of several small tourism businesses in Santa Lucia, told the local newspaper La Prensa that it was promising a lot about the use of cryptocurrency:
In Santa Lucia, we will all participate in this project. We put everything in there. If Bitcoin is accepted it will allow us to open another market, to get more customers. We must globalize. We cannot close ourselves off from technology and we cannot be left behind when other countries are already doing so.
Although it is at the moment mostly a publicity stuntit has recently become clear that developing countries, such as El Salvador and Honduras, are looking at a significant potential for the use of crypto assetsespecially when the local currencies are inherently unstablesaid Simon Peters, market analyst at eToro.
In the footsteps of the Salvadoran neighbor
As a reminder, the Salvador was the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. President Nayib Bukele sees a way in assets to develop and strengthen the financial inclusion of his population. So the country is very dependent on the king of crypto-currencies.
El Salvador experienced a about a 30% jump in tourism BTC has been accepted as legal tender in the country. However, the nation is facing several challenges after the latest drop in BTC price. Currently, the country he paid 105.6 million dollars would have about 2301 BTC. At the current price, this would be only 52 million dollars, ie a drop of about 50% of his reserves in BTC.
International and private bodies also block the adoption of Bitcoin the IMF which considers that the country has gone too far. If the International Monetary Fund recognizes that crypto can lead to better financial inclusion, it believes so the country should not have legal tender Bitcoin.
The institution declares:
The use of bitcoin poses significant risks to financial stability, financial integrity and consumer protection “. The IMF encouraged in its statement authorities [du Salvador] reducing the scope of bitcoin law by removing the legal status of bitcoin.
Despite his protests, there is no change in the El Salvador project and the tweets from President Nayib Bukele describing the country’s new Bitcoin purchases continue to flourish on social media.
El Salvador bought the swim! 🇸🇻
500 coins at an average price of USD ~$30,744 🥳#Bitcoin
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 9, 2022
Therefore El Salvador continues to believe in the future of Bitcoin and is implementing many projects such as Bitcoin mining using the energy of volcanoes. The coming years will tell us if this strategy is successful for a small Central American country and its neighbor Honduras.
For information on current market conditions, find our latest article here.
