Honduras has broken grounds for “Bitcoin Valley,” a project in the country’s booming town of Santa Lucia, in an effort to attract crypto investors from around the globe.
Honduras is the most recent Central American nation to promote a municipality’s use of cryptocurrency as a payment method. According to a report by Reuters, a variety of Santa Lucian companies now accept Bitcoin as payment.
The “Bitcoin Valley” project aims for 60 firms to receive training and adopt cryptocurrencies to sell their products and services, with the expectation that these practices would spread to further businesses in the area. Santa Lucia is a short drive from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.
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Cesar Andino, manager of the Los Robles shopping center, said:
“It will create more chances and attract more individuals who wish to utilize this currency.”
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Honduras’ latest announcement comes roughly 10 months after its neighbor El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender. El Salvador also has in its coffers millions of dollars worth of BTC.
Following the legalization of BTC as legal tender in El Salvador, tourism increased by around 30 percent. Nonetheless, given the most recent decline in Bitcoin’s price, the nation faces certain hurdles.
“We must globalize. We can’t block ourselves off from technology and we can’t be left behind when other countries are already doing it,” Andino stated in a report translated by the local newspaper Diario La Prensa.
According to Reuters, the crypto initiative was officially inaugurated on Thursday and was a collaboration between the Technological University of Honduras, Blockchain Honduras, the Guatemalan cryptocurrency exchange Coincaex, and the municipality of Santa Lucia.
Image: AF24News
Bitcoin As Legal Tender
Central American nations have been evaluating crypto efforts to better assess their hazards and advantages. In April of this year, the Honduras Economic Zone recognized Bitcoin as legal cash and authorized crypto tax payments. Additionally, it has enabled entities to issue BTC bonds.
In addition to promoting merchant acceptance, the program intends to promote local Bitcoin and cryptocurrency education. Local students and businesspeople have the opportunity to enroll in a month-long course on BTC and related technologies.
Professor Ruben Carbajal Velazquez of the Technological University stated:
The community of Saint Lucia will be trained on how to use and handle cryptocurrency, applying them in regional companies and developing crypto-tourism.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has raised alarm over El Salvador and the Central African Republic adopting bitcoin as official tender. Furthermore, it has been asserted that DeFi poses a threat to financial markets and requires regulation.
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