Bitcoin: Launch of “Bitcoin Valley” in Honduras to boost crypto-tourism

Bitcoin Valley, the first bitcoin city in Honduras, has been launched in Santa Lucia. Businesses in the area will accept bitcoin for payments. “In Santa Lucia, we will all participate in this project… Accepting bitcoins will open us up to another market and gain more customers“, said one local business owner.

Bitcoin Valley: First Bitcoin City in Honduras

Bitcoin Valley, the first bitcoin city from Honduras, was launched in the small Honduran tourist town of Santa Lucia, located 20 minutes from the capital Tegucigalpa.

The initiative was jointly developed by Blockchain Honduras, Guatemalan crypto-currency exchange Coincaex, the Technological University of Honduras, Decentral Academy and the municipality of Santa Lucia. Blockchain Honduras announced the launch of Bitcoin Valley on Thursday.

Cesar Andino, owner of the Los Robles commercial plaza in Santa Lucia where several commercial establishments operate, will accept bitcoin in addition to U.S. dollars and Honduran lempiras. He told the publication La Prensa last week that it was waiting to receive a point-of-sale (POS) device that would allow it to accept the crypto-currency, adding:

At Santa Lucia, we’re all going to be part of this… Accepting bitcoin will open us up to another market and allow us to gain more customers.

“We have to globalize. We can’t close ourselves off to technology and we can’t be left behind when other countries are already doing it“, he added.

Carlos Leonardo Paguada Velasquez, founder of Blockchain Honduras and representative of the Central American Association of Crypto-currency Users (Acucrip), told the publication a few days before the official launch of Bitcoin Valley:

About 60 companies will start with the Bitcoin Valley project.

He noted that the owners of these businesses have received training from Decentral Academy on the use of bitcoin and the technology behind it.

Coincaex provides point-of-sale devices to merchants to enable them to accept BTC. Regarding bitcoin’s volatility, Paguada explained that Coincaex “assumes all risk.“

For example, he stated that if a family buys pupusas in a restaurant in Santa Lucia and pays in bitcoins, the equivalent amount of the purchase in lempiras will be deducted from the bitcoin wallet of the family. Coincaex will receive BTC and transfer the payment in lempiras to the restaurant. “Business owners will not receive bitcoin. They will receive lempiras from Coincaex“, he clarified.

Ruben Carbajal Velazquez, a professor at the University of Technology, was quoted by Reuters as saying, “The Santa Lucia community will be trained in the use and management of crypto-currencies, implementing them in different businesses in the area and generating crypto-tourism.“