Cryptocurrency adoption is taking a new shape in different nations while the US is still busy figuring out how digital currencies could be regulated. According to local sources, over 5,000 merchants in Chile are currently accepting payments in premier cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stellar Lumens. The country was recently in the midst of a banking-versus-crypto storm where some banking entities stopped providing services to crypto businesses.
Dawn of a New Era in Chile
Merchants accepting crypto payments marks the beginning of a new crypto-friendly era in Chile. Recently, a payment service platform in the country called Flow announced that it is partnering with Cryptomkt, a digital currency exchange, to allow customers to pay for their everyday purchases in digital currencies. Over 5,000 merchants have already signed up for these payments. Flow has integrated a new payment service, CryptoCompra, for making these transactions possible.
Crypto businesses and crypto adoption could get a huge boost because of this initiative. Flow already has over 20,000 customers who are using a multitude of mainstream payment options like ServiPag, OnePay, WebPay, and Multicaja on the platform. It currently charges a 0.90 percent commission for Cryptocompra transactions. This fee is way cheaper than what it charges for mainstream fiat platforms like WebPay, which charges a 4.99 percent fee. Muticaja transactions are charged at 3.99 percent, OnePay charged at 4.99 percent and ServiPag at 5.29 percent.
The platform will support three currencies — Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Stellar Lumens (XLM). The customers can directly use any of these three cryptocurrencies for payments, which will then be converted into Chilean pesos or euros.
Chile’s Crypto Exposure
The Fourth Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, as reported by local news source Latercera, has recently ruled that Banco Estado, one of the banks that banned services to crypto exchanges and other related businesses, must lift the ban and reinstate the closed accounts of crypto entities. The court said that by closing their accounts, Banco Estado has acted against Article 19 (2) of the Political Constitution of Chile, which guaranteed equal treatment to all.
Banks had shut down the accounts of various crypto exchanges as prices of digital currencies rose rapidly at the end of last year. It triggered a negative reaction in the country’s banking ecosystem, which feared that cryptocurrencies could destabilize their financial practices. Banks reacted quickly and shut down the accounts of crypto exchanges to stop growth in the industry.
The Financial Stability Board (CEF) later said that the cryptos are not a threat to the economy but warned against investing and trading in the virtual assets.
