Uruguay’s first crypto ATM has been set up in the coastal town of Punta del Este, a major tourist attraction in the region.
The 11th country in South America to publicly encourage cryptocurrency adoption
Uruguay has reportedly installed its first bitcoin (BTC) ATM, becoming the 11th country in South America to publicly encourage cryptocurrency adoption. Prior to Uruguay’s involvement, 79 crypto ATMs were based in South America, representing 0.2% of the total number of bitcoin ATMs worldwide.
According to Ámbito, Uruguay’s first crypto ATM was set up in the coastal town of Punta del Este, a major tourist attraction in the region. Uruguay’s first bitcoin ATM was designed and installed in partnership with two local crypto companies, URUBit and inBierto.
Currently, the crypto distributor in Uruguay supports withdrawals and deposits of five cryptocurrencies, namely bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD), Ferret Token (FRT) and Urubit (URUB). Ferret Token (FRT) and Urubit (URUB) are in-house cryptocurrencies managed and distributed by URUBit and inBierto respectively.
The initiative funded by the Uruguayan government
Adolfo Varela, general manager of the company inBierto, confirmed that the initiative was 100% funded by the Uruguayan government. inBierto is a crypto investment platform, which is also a member of the Uruguayan Chamber of Fintech (Cámara Uruguaya de Fintech), a startup accelerator focused on the Fintech sector. URUBit is a decentralized token created in Uruguay and deployed on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
According to data from Coin ATM RadarColombia leads the South American market with 31 crypto distributors to date, followed by Brazil and Argentina with 22 and 11 crypto distributors respectively.
Other South American countries such as Ecuador, Venezuela, Aruba, and Saint Kitts and Nevis have also installed a crypto ATM each.
The bill to regulate crypto-assets
Last year, a Uruguayan senator introduced a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies and allow businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments.
As Cointelegraph reports, Senator Juan Sartori had no interest in adopting cryptocurrencies as legal tender. Instead, he suggested:
“Today we present a bill that aims to establish a legal, lawful and safe use in the production and commercialization activity of virtual currencies in Uruguay”.
Installing crypto vending machines will help citizens away from investments to understand that cryptoassets are the same means as regular money, but in a different format.
Source: cointelegraph.com
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Jean-Louis Lefevre
I am convinced that cryptocurrencies open up extraordinary new perspectives that I do not want to miss under any circumstances! I try to constantly enrich my skills in this area and share with you everything I learn with my followers and my hours spent exploring this universe.
