This article is from cointelegraph.com.br and the original article can be read here in Portuguese
The adoption of cryptocurrencies in Brazil begins to go beyond just a financial investment alternative to also become a means of payment in the daily life of the population. According to data from a survey by the Crypto Literacy, an entity that promotes educational initiatives on cryptocurrencies, released last year, 25% of Brazilians were willing to pay for products and services with their crypto assets.
Now, a survey of coinmap, a company that tracks metrics of cryptocurrency adoption worldwide, revealed that this provision is already matched in more than 900 commercial establishments in the country, according to a report from Época Negócios published on Sunday, May 1st. According to data collected by Coinmap, around the world there are already more than 30,000 establishments that accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
Even the city hall of Rio de Janeiro announced in March of this year that it will accept Bitcoin municipal tax payments (BTC) from 2023, in an unprecedented initiative in the Brazil.
Although the Bill No. 4,401, which establishes a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market in Brazil, is still pending in Congress, and depends on the subsequent approval of the President of the Republic, it is already possible for the Brazilian consumer buy real estate, cars, wines, among other products and services using cryptocurrencies.
Despite the willingness shared by consumers and entrepreneurs, the inherent volatility of the main crypto-assets on the market, such as the Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) is still an obstacle to the popularization of digital assets, said the finance professor at FGV-EESP and specialist on the subject, Jefferson Colombo:
“The fact that there are 900 places that accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment does not mean that people will transact.”
The expert’s statement is corroborated by a report recently published by Cointelegraph Brasil, which revealed that, in Brazil, several commercial establishments that accept payments in Bitcoin or Ethereum never found customers willing to spend their cryptocurrencies in everyday shopping.
Wine
Seeking to meet the demand of some customers, the Wine Subscription Club started accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment since last month. For now, the payment method with Bitcoin is only available on the company’s app, but the intention is to incorporate a new option to the website and other sales channels of Wine, said the company’s CFO, Clayton Freire:
“We believe that the use of cryptocurrencies will be more common in the near future and the payment method is also a way to attract customers”.
For now, the volume traded in Bitcoin is still insignificant and accounts for a small part of Wine’s revenue, but the company uses a system that protects it from fluctuations in the price of the cryptocurrency.
The company does not receive in Bitcoin, but uses the services of a conciliator who performs the operation and converts the crypto-assets into reais before transferring the revenues to the company. “There is no volatility of variation. This is for the customer. For us, the price does not change”, explained Freire.
In 2021, investment in crypto assets in Brazil reached US$ 5.995 billion, according to data from the Central Bank, the highest annual volume since 2017, when the institution started recording operations of this nature.
Despite the market slump in early 2022, in March the Bitcoin traded volume in Brazil reached BRL 4.9 billion, registering a 28% growth after four months of decline, as reported by Cointelegraph Brasil.