A major international airport in Venezuela will reportedly soon accept payments with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC) and possibly more. This is reported by a local news source, El Siglo, on October 10:
#Nacionales | Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetia comenzará a cobrar con criptomonedas #elsiglocomve📲 https://t.co/cTg8ekTydZ
— Diario El Siglo CA (@elsiglocomve) October 10, 2021
It’s about Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetia Simon Bolivar, or the Simon Bolivar International Airport in English. The airport is also abbreviated by the locals as Maiquetia. The airport is close to the center of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela and is the main and busiest airport in the country.
In addition to bitcoin, the company will also accept “many other” crypto, said Freddy Borges, director of the Venezuelan airport. Those are at least dash (DASH) and the controversial petro (PTR). The petro (₽), or petromoneda, is Venezuela’s crypto linked to the country’s oil reserves. It is currently unknown which crypto may be more accepted.
According to Borges, the introduction of crypto payments at Maiquetía airport signals the company’s commitment to helping international travelers and tourists and driving the adoption of digital currencies. He is convinced that it is very important to make progress by making these new technological economic systems accessible.
Venezuela launched a new digital bolivar this month to curb hyperinflation in the country. No less than 6 zeros were removed from this new bolivar compared to the previous one. The new currency would be a so-called central bank digital currency (CBDC), the second in the world. However, there is reportedly little digital to this coin and it is just fiat currency. The petro was already launched in 2018.
