Pizza Hut outlets across Venezuela now accept digital assets including Bitcoin (BTC) as a means payment.
The global pizza restaurant franchise has joined Burger King, Intercontinental Hotel, and Traki Stores in accepting BTC across the troubled South American country.
Pizza Hut has partnered with Panamanian crypto exchange Cryptobuyer to facilitate payments for its goods, as a complete lack of faith in the Venezuelan Bolivar has made the currency worthless.
According to a Cryptobuyer press release on Friday 27 November,
‘From today, you can share with your family and pay with cryptocurrencies … in any of the Pizza Hut restaurants in Venezuela.’
Pizza Hut will also be accepting other alt coins including Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Dash (DASH), and stablecoins DAI and USDT as a means of cryptocurrency payments.
CryptoBuyer had partnered with established Venezuelan payment processor Mega Soft earlier this year as the companies started to offer non-bolivar payments for Venezuelans.
The partnership allowed Cryptobuyer to integrate its transaction infrastructure with Mega Soft’s Merchant Server, giving Venezuelan merchants an option of accepting over 100 cryptocurrencies.
Cryptobuyer CEO Jorge Farías said more than 100,000 merchants will be accepting cryptocurrencies as payment by the end of this year.
Farías said the exchange is planning to integrate up to 100,000 merchants across South America and Europe by the end of the year. And the Cryptobuyer CEO referred to the positive economic impact integrating cryptocurrency payments could have on the country.
‘This is the beginning of a definitive trend where we will see how new technologies are presented as a real alternative for financial inclusion.’
Mega Soft CEO Antonio Castro, emphasized the importance Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will play in the future of Venezuela as a way of connecting it to global finance.
‘Cryptocurrencies are a fundamental part of what will be the new forms of payment, more agile and universal, and easily accessible to all strata of the population,’ said Castro.
The partnership first launched in June 2020, and it immediately opened the way for over 20,000 point-of-sale terminals to accept Bitcoin across Venezuela.
Since then some of the biggest companies operating in the country have started to accept Bitcoin as payment.
Global giants Samsung, Burger King, and Interconinental Hotels have taken advantage of the Bitcoin payment service, and accept Bitcoin as payment in Venezuela.
Local businesses such as Farmatodo, supermarket chain Central Madeirense, and Venezuelan shopping giant Traki, among many others also accept Bitcoin as payment.
According to a Traki spokesman the company has already handled over one thousand crypto payments since it started accepting them.
Merchants using the payments system can choose to either immediately settle their Bitcoin payments into USD or Euro, or keep the BTC stored in their Cryptobuyer exchange account wallet.
Bitcoin Adoption In Venezuela is Inevitable
It’s yet more proof of the necessity and adoption of Bitcoin in places like Venezuela, as both merchants and residents try to circumvent the failing bolivar by accepting BTC payments.
Venezuela is in its eighth year of economic contraction, and with the rate of inflation at over 10 million per cent since 2018, the bolivar is officially as useful as toilet paper. Yes, it has it uses.
With most of the Venezuelan rich and academics having fled. And over 10% of the population gone to foreign lands, the lack of human capital will hinder Venezuela’s future growth if and when the economy starts to pick up again.
The only ones left are likely those who can’t afford to leave, and who have to put up with the way the country is run.
President Madura had introduced a state run cryptocurrency, supposedly backed by the country’s oil reserves. There have been many attempts by the government to enforce its use, but residents simply want away from anything government controlled.
With the state of things in Venezuela, it makes Bitcoin adoption inevitable there. A currency that can’t be controlled, manipulated or banned by the government, and one that connects its long suffering people to a fair and global financial system is critical.
Bitcoin Payments Accepted Across Venezuela
Pizza Hut is the latest corporation to take advantage of Bitcoin payments. With the state of the Venezuelan economy, however, it’s surprising it’s taken the global restaurant chain so long.
And with the Venezuelan people suffering for so long under the corrupt Maduro regime, it’s inevitable the people there will adopt Bitcoin.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become a critical lifeline for Venezuelans, and many Venezuelans use them to send money home.
Hardly any Venezuelan merchant accepts the bolivar or the government crypto Petro, so BTC payments and the adoption of Bitcoin in general will continue to rise there.
But this isn’t just confined to Venezuela. Residents of many failing economies are using Bitcoin as lifeline. And that will come to Europe and North America as their currencies continue to devalue over time.
Author: Pablo Clarke
Bitcoin FAQs
There are several reputable Bitcoin exchanges operating across Latin America. However, there are some scammy exchanges so be careful. The most recommended exchanges to buy Bitcoin are Kraken or BlockFi. Or you can get some from Bitcoin marketplaces, such as LocalBitcoins or Paxful. All of these exchanges and marketplaces are global with high liquidity and excellent customer service. Check out our reviews on each platform.
Yes. Every Bitcoin can broken down into 100 million bits. They are known as satoshis, after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. And some companies will let you buy as little as $1 worth of Bitcoin, which at time of writing is worth about 11,000 satoshis. There are many companies that have a system for dollar cost averaging (DCA). This is a great way to buy Bitcoin, and is known in the space as ‘Stacking Sats’. Basically, what you do is set up small automatic, recurring payments to buy Bitcoin (or sats), and you DCA over time.
There is no Bitcoin CEO. There is no central authority that directs or controls Bitcoin. It was created by a pseudonymous programmer Satoshi Nakamoto, but he gave it up to the community, and now all decisions are made by the hundreds of thousands of miners and nodes who work for the Bitcoin network.
There are many ways to make money with Bitcoin. The most obvious way is to mine Bitcoin. Bitcoin mining is the process of verifying transactions, and helping to secure the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin miners are rewarded with bitcoins for their work. Check out our Bitcoin for Beginners section for a few ideas of how to make money or how to earn free Bitcoin.
A Bitcoiner since 2017 and a Bitcoin Maximalist since 2018, Tommy is our main writer and editor at Bitcoin Maximalist. Other than researching and writing about Bitcoin, Tommy loves spending time with his family and supporting his beloved Leeds United.
