Bitcoin (BTC) use in Guatemala is on the up. The Latin American country that borders El Salvador boasts Guatemalan-grown Bitcoin companies such as Ibex and Osmo, several Bitcoin Beach-inspired projects including Bitcoin Lake, and now, free BTC tattoos. A Bitcoin merchant adoption competition hosted by Osmo Wallet in 2022, a Guatemala-based Bitcoin company, led to the free ink promotion. Cointelegraph spoke to Piero Coen, the co-founder of Osmo Wallet, and Steven Marroquin, the owner of Soul’s Anchor, a tattoo parlor in Guatemala City. Coen explained how it that the mission is to get more people to use Bitcoin: “So we …

Over the weekend, thousands of Bitcoiners and crypto enthusiasts descended on the small, sleepy Swiss town of Lugano. More specifically, they piled onto a McDonald’s restaurant. Perched on Lake Lugano, Mcdonald's Lugano received countless visits from Bitcoiners keen to trade Satoshis (the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin) for Big Macs, McFlurrys and coffee. But why were European crypto enthusiasts excited to pay in Bitcoin (BTC) at one of the world’s most recognizable brands? Well, firstly to demonstrate the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 technology built atop Bitcoin. But also to live up to Satoshi Nakamoto’s promise that Bitcoin is, in fact, …

Three-quarters of United States retailers plan to accept crypto or stablecoin payments within the next two years, according to a new survey published by Deloitte. It also found that more than half of large retailers with revenues over $500 million are currently spending $1 million or more building the required infrastructure to make it happen. The information was revealed in Deloitte’s “Merchants Getting Ready For Crypto” report released in collaboration with PayPal on Wednesday. A large majority, around 85%, of the surveyed merchants said they anticipate that cryptocurrency payments will be ubiquitous in their respective industries in five years. The …

Convenience store and gas station giant On The Run (OTR) will soon accept crypto payments at its 170 outlets across South Australia and Victoria. The move will allow customers to pay for gas, snacks, and even a Subway foot long in over 30 cryptocurrencies. OTR’s parent company the Peregrine Corporation, one of the largest privately-owned companies in South Australia, will also be accepting crypto at its Subway, Oporto, and Smokemart stores. Once the system is finalized in July, it will become the largest business in the country to accept in-store crypto payments. The company is working with Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com …

The secret to fast-track cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption lies within addressing a contradicted consumer demand for crypto payments across business verticals, reveals a new survey. In a study participated by crypto exchange Crypto.com’s 110,000 customers and over 1.5 million Worldpay merchants, roughly 60% of both merchants and customers shared their interest in crypto payments. However, the consumer demand does not reciprocate the business verticals that accept cryptocurrencies. As evidenced above, the consumer demand for crypto payments exceeds merchant availability across four major industries — travel, automotive, digital media and hospitality. The gap in merchant availability poses a massive opportunity to capitalize …

Apple announced plans to launch Tap to Pay for iPhone, a new feature that effectively turns the smartphone into a point of sale (POS) device for businesses and merchants. So, what’s in it for crypto? The announcement explains that with Tap to Pay, iPhone-owning merchants receive contactless payments by using their mobile devices as a POS machine thanks to the NFC technology. According to Apple, the soon-to-be-launched Tap to Pay feature will extend support to “Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards and other digital wallets.” It basically means that, unless Apple places a direct barrier for it, customers who …

Australian baseball club Perth Heat has announced a partnership with Bitcoin payment processor OpenNode to accept and make payments in Bitcoin (BTC). The partnership allows Perth Heat to pay professional players and staff in Bitcoin. According to the announcement, the professional sports club will send and receive payments in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network. In addition, the partnership with OpenNode allows the Perth Heat organization to accept Bitcoin payments for sponsorships, merchandise and other revenue streams. Taking things a step further, Perth Heat has also rebranded itself to be called “the Bitcoin baseball team.” The club has also listed Bitcoin-branded …

Australian buy now pay later (BNPL) giant Afterpay — now part of Jack Dorsey's Square — has said that it is likely to pursue cryptocurrency services once the regulatory framework is clear. Following Afterpay’s submission to the Senate inquiry into “Australia as a Technology and Financial Center,” which posited that merchants could slash payment costs by utilizing cryptocurrencies, representatives spoke to the inquiry on Sept. 8. Afterpay’s vice president for public policy and communications Damian Kassabgi said that “this idea of being able to exchange currencies from person to person or to a merchant without going through the traditional rails …

Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi has denied the company's involvement in a move by a Portuguese Xiaomi shop to start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments. Mi Store Portugal, a Xiaomi retailer in the country, announced Wednesday on Facebook that it now allows customers to purchase devices using five cryptocurrencies, including BTC, Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), Dash (DASH) and the Utrust (UTK) token. A spokesperson for Xiaomi subsequently reacted to the news on Chinese social media platform Weibo, stressing that the Mi Store Portugal is not directly related to Xiaomi’s operations. “We are concerned about the information that Mi Store Portugal accepts digital …

Jack Dorsey’s cryptocurrency-friendly digital payments firm Square is expanding competition with global payments giants like PayPal by acquiring a major Australian lending company. Square announced Sunday that the firm has entered into a scheme implementation deed to acquire all of the issued shares in fintech company Afterpay in a $29-billion deal. The transaction is based on the closing price of the Square common share and is expected to be paid in all stock in the first quarter of 2022. The acquisition enables Square to further accelerate its strategic plans for payment ecosystems as the company is looking to integrate Afterpay …

Dash has announced the launch of DashDirect — a consumer app that allows users to spend the DASH cryptocurrency in stores across America. In an announcement released on Tuesday, Dash revealed that the new customer-focused app will offer up to 12% in savings on purchases by users. Detailing the rebates and discount features, Mashall Greenwald, DashDirect Founder and CEO of CrayPay told Cointelegraph: “After you enter the exact amount of your current purchase in the app, an immediate discount of up to 12% is applied,” adding: “This allows anyone to spend Dash for everyday purchases as easily as using USD, …

An adoption-focused ecosystem that is built to simplify the way crypto payments are made says its smart contracts have been successfully audited by an independent firm — with the beta version of its app receiving a warm reception since being launched in early June. Samecoin says more than $2 million was locked in its protocol within an hour of launch, and an extensive list of partnerships means that it delivers immediate utility. The project’s team is also growing quickly, with new hires being made on a regular basis. Permissionless asset creation is one of Samecoin’s strong suits, and these tokens …