Tomorrow, September 27th, Ripple partner Bitso will roll out its new payment solution in Argentina. The product will enable users in the Latin American country to access the first QR code payment system in the region powered by XRP and other cryptocurrencies.
Bitso is one of the largest exchanges in the region with over 5 million users. In Argentina alone, the platform onboarded over 1 million customers that will be able to make QR code crypto payments in certain regions as of tomorrow. The product will expand to the entire country in the coming months.
Ripple And Bitso Provide New Use Cases, Argentinean Customers Protected Against Inflation
According to a press release, Bitso’s new payment solution will provide its customer with a solution to remove friction and cost from the process of making everyday payments. Users will be able to access the payment product by accessing the exchange’s mobile app.
Per the announcement, users will have two options for payments: fiat currency or cryptocurrencies. If they chose the latter, the transaction will be free and directly process in the local currency. If they decide to spend their cryptocurrencies, the app will automatically convert the digital asset into local fiat currency.
This seems like a convenient alternative for people that own crypto and are looking for a seamless and low-cost way to incorporate it into their everyday life. Argentina has one of the highest inflation in the world as it nears 80% year-over-year.
In contrast, the latest inflation metrics in the U.S., some of the highest in decades, peaked at around 9% and currently stand at around 8%. Argentina’s inflation might reach 100% by the end of 2022, according to certain reports.
In that sense, people have turned to cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and other hard assets to protect themselves against inflation and circumvent official exchange rates. The Ripple partner, Bitso, has identified this situation as an opportunity to roll out their newest payment solution.
In addition, Bitso claims that Argentina has some of the largest QR code payment adoption rates in the world. Data provided by the exchange platform claims that 59% of Argentinians have used QR codes for payments, the regional averages stood at 34%. In 2023, 83% of people expect to use this payment method.
Santiago Alvarado, Senior Vice President of Product at Bitso, said the following about their new product:
This launch is a testament to our proactive approach to creating crypto-based financial products that are useful in people’s daily lives while providing a solution to the challenges inherent in the financial landscape of Latin America. This is an especially important product offering for Argentina as it provides users protection from the adverse economic factors such as inflation and currency devaluation.
Ripple Supports Bitso’s Growth In Latin America
Furthermore, Alvarado claims the new product will fulfill one of Ripple’s partner objectives: to provide new use cases and to make crypto more useful. The exchange platform began working with the payment company in 2018 to improve the payment rails available for its customers.
Since that time, Bitso has been able to consolidate its foothold in Latin America becoming one of the largest liquidity providers for remittance in Mexico and other countries. In that sense, the adoption of the Ripple payment solution On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which leverages XRP, has been critical.
In 2020, Bárbara González Briseño said the following about Bitso’s cooperation with the payment company:
We want to connect all of Latin America into a single network where everyone can transact instantly and cost-effectively, whenever they need to. Ripple shares our vision of using its innovative technology to create accessible and valuable friction-free exchange for our partners and their customers.