SD BITCOIN MEETUP: THE ADVENTURES OF BITCOIN IN LATIN AMERICA - MY RECAP
Originally posted by me (Gino Rossi) on 10/7/15 at:
http://bitsabio.com/blogs/news/80065473-sd-bitcoin-meetup-the-adventures-of-bitcoin-in-latin-america-my-recap
The subject line of this meetup had me sold the minute it was announced. Yesterday I spent my evening listening, chatting and hanging out with the folks in attendance at this meetup and I have to say that I was very impressed with everything I heard thru the evening.
http://meetup.com/Bitcoin-San-Diego/
Here is my brief and raw summary of everything that I was able to gather during this meetup which took place at the offices of Airbitz Inc, btw this happened to be my very first bitcoin meetup.
Justin Blincoe (@jpblincoe) spoke of his travels in Latin America and his experience with bitcoins in that region. Justin is the former COO ofCoinapult which is a Panama based bitcoin company.
Here are my brief notes from memory because I decided not to write anything & instead I opted to help myself with a few beers from their cooler
Argentina — very large & healthy bitcoin community. Currently many Argentinian merchants accept bitcoins & they are always looking to exchange them for their local currency in order to meet their local financial obligations.
Venezuela — ability to move money out of the country is very difficult, more & more people are moving to bitcoins in order to continue to conduct commerce. Potential for continued grow of bitcoins in Venezuela is very high.
Peru — has a small & growing community of bitcoin users, a company called Bitinka helps locals buy & sell bitcoins as well use their bitcoins thru their wallet.
Colombia — enjoys a healthy & creative community of bitcoin users. Recently a company called CriptoBanco became the first local bitcoin exchange in the nation.
Brazil — enjoys a growing bitcoin following, many merchants are accepting bitcoins & their numbers have grown steadily in many areas. Cost of transfer of money within the country is expensive & this is helping bitcoin gain traction.
Ecuador & Bolivia — crypto-currencies are banned in both nations. Small group of folks are attempting to restart the bitcoin communities.
The topic was great & well delivered, the post meetup chats were outstanding as well. Justin Blincoe talked to me for a while longer on other Latin nations & his take on what the future may look like for them.
Meeting Airbitz Inc CEO Paul Pueywas a nice highlight to the meetup, I was also fortunate to meet Chris Groshong CEO of @coinstructive & Derek Andonian who runs a blog called @OnTheBlockChain. Lot’s of great conversations during the evening & I look forward to chatting with them again very soon.
I’m excited for the next San Diego Bitcoin Meetup, there are a lot of interesting projects in the horizon. For those interested in joining, here is their Meetup page: http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-San-Diego/