Bitcoin ATM installed in the Mexican Senate building

Senator Indira Kempis called its installation a sign of “financial freedom, inclusion and education” in the country

27.04.2022 - 14:10

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2 min

What’s new? On April 26, a bitcoin ATM was installed in the Senate building in Mexico City. The initiative was supported by many lawmakers, including Miguel Ángel Mancera, the coordinator of the parliamentary group of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. Senator Indira Kempis has shared a photo of the new ATM on Twitter, calling its installation a sign of “financial freedom, inclusion and education in Mexico.”

Source: Twitter.com

What do the senators say? Before the installation of the bitcoin ATM in the Senate building, Mancera organized a forum where participants discussed the initiative to regulate cryptocurrencies in Mexico. Mancera said that the volume of transactions in bitcoins has exceeded the indicators of traditional payment systems such as PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard. As the president of the Senate’s Political Coordination Board Ricardo Monreal explained, nearly 67 million Mexicans do not have access to the banking system, so digital currencies may be a solution to the problem for them.

According to Coin ATM Radar, this is the 14th cryptocurrency ATM in the country, with 13 installations already operating in Mexico City, Tijuana, Cancún, Guadalajara, Culiacán, San Miguel de Cozumel, and Aguascalientes.

What had happened before? In February, Kempis stated that bitcoin should become legal tender in Mexico. She argued that the adoption of bitcoin has the potential to contribute to the global outreach to the population without access to financial services.

In mid-April, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego said that bitcoin could become the only alternative to the dollar.

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