Bitcoin in El Salvador (
BTC
Owners will soon be able to spend BTC using touch-to-pay wherever NFC card readers are available. The Cardless Payment Service will use the Lightning Network (LN) to facilitate retail transactions for BTC.
Contactless card payments are very popular in today’s fast-paced world, and with the help of LN, these services can now also be used by BTC holders. Bitcoin Lightning services in El Salvador are being implemented by CoinCorner, which in turn is partnering with IBEX, a lightning infrastructure services company, to add NFC support to businesses in the country.
Bolt Card, a payment card from Lighting, launched on October 12. CoinCorner said the expansion into the Central American country, in addition to its BTC legal tender, was driven by a series of reports of poor user experience, which the company hopes to address.
Bitcoin LN is a scalable layer 2 infrastructure that enables hashing and spending BTC in everyday life at low cost and stable transaction speed. The introduction of one-touch card payments will make it easier for BTC users in the country, which the company hopes will improve BTC usage in the country as well.
Related: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Wallet Shows ‘Strong Signs of Acceptance’, President Says
El Salvador became the first country to launch a legal tender for BTC in September 2021. At the time, the government of President Najib Bukele hoped that its passage would help the country’s unbanked majority achieve financial independence. Within four months of adopting BTC, the country gained 4 million state-backed bitcoin wallet users.
In the first two quarters of 2022, $52 million was transferred to BTC wallets. With the introduction of Lightning-based payments in the country, the retail sector could see an increase in BTC use.
