LOOK: Biggest financial institution in El Salvador embraces Bitcoin?

[kenskie]

The Biggest bank in El Salvador the Bancoagricola bank, now accepting bitcoin to payments. Also according to the news, the bank has been one of the first to implement bitcoin to support for it's financial instruments(loans, mortgages,credit card debt).

Statement of the Carlos Mauricio Novoa, COO of Bancoagricola :
"We are excited to be the first financial institution in El Salvador to enable bitcoin access for our customers across our entire suite of financial products and to enhance financial inclusion."

My god, El Salvador is doing it, now that one of the country's biggest institution implement bitcoin as payments, other cryptocurrencies will widely spread and might be accepted for payment too, not just the Bancoagricola bank but also other companies and small stores, what do you guys think?  

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[GreatArkansas]

This is expected, as the government of El Salvador already has a law about using Bitcoin as legal tender. This is just the beginning and everything will follow once they saw how useful Bitcoin is.
This can be related to a virus, it will spread throughout El Salvador, not in a short period of time, but it takes time until it will be fully out spread out.

[mk4]

Bitcoin is now officially a "currency" in the entirety El Salvador. Are we going to create a new topic for every El Salvadorian business/company/entity that accepts bitcoin now? lol

[Fundamentals Of]

This is expected. But the lesson here is not that financial institutions in El Salvador are now coming out in support of Bitcoin. The lesson here is that the traditional banks are not necessarily opponents of Bitcoin. El Salvador shows to the world that Bitcoin could actually co-exist with fiat and that the traditional banking institution does not have to perish because of the introduction of Bitcoin. Bitcoin may be a bank itself but traditional banks offer something else.

[rosenbauer02]

We already know that El Salvador embrace bitcoin and accept it as legal tender. It is a good news for crypto enthusiast in that place where they can now accept bitcoin as one of the payment system used in their store. It is expected that the people who use bitcoin there is happy to be able to accept cryptocurrency as one of the payment.

[SFR10]

other cryptocurrencies will widely spread and might be accepted for payment too,

They made BTCitcoin a legal tender, not cryptocurrencies as a whole and I highly doubt they could follow in BTCitcoin's footsteps anytime soon.

Are we going to create a new topic for every El Salvadorian business/company/entity that accepts bitcoin now? lol

Internet: How many threads do you want about El Salvador accepting BTCitcoin?
TS/OP: Yes

[jossiel]

Everyone is excited with what's going to happen after the adoption of El Salvador to bitcoin as a legal tender.

Let things happen and let's wait what is with them since they're just at the beginning of its adoption and let things come naturally.

[DdmrDdmr]

Although the bank is only complying with the new Bitcoin Law, the value here is seeing how banks are adapting to receiving payments in bitcoin, being these payments more unconventional than simply making a purchase at a regular store.

I’ve taken a look at their site, and it explains how they’ve adapted their software to allow for their customers to pay for their card or loan payments through their banking software, by generating a QR code that then should tie with their bitcoin wallet in order to fulfil the payment. They are not promoting Chivo, but rather seemingly open to any wallet.

(In Spanish)
https://www.bancoagricola.com/bitcoin
(or https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=https://www.bancoagricola.com/bitcoin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOPDPJcZ-cU

[btc_angela]

This is expected, as the government of El Salvador already has a law about using Bitcoin as legal tender. This is just the beginning and everything will follow once they saw how useful Bitcoin is.
This can be related to a virus, it will spread throughout El Salvador, not in a short period of time, but it takes time until it will be fully out spread out.

Exactly, the whole country of El Salvador have embraced bitcoin, so this news is somewhat expected and maybe we have seen the effect in the price already. If this is some other banks outside of the country, then maybe it will have a positive bounce on the price. But since El Salvador has legalised bitcoin, other banks might follow this as well.

[kryptqnick]

I agree with others that it doesn't look surprising given the official governmental position on Bitcoin in El Salvador, but it's still a good sign because there was a chance that banks, being natural rivals of cryptocurrencies, would protest these new policies and do their best not to comply with them. In a broken country like El Salvador, this could totally happen, and that could create significant obstacles. But apparently, given how bad the economic situation is, Bitcoin is something many are willing to believe in, and so even banks are taking the risk and welcoming cryptos for a chance of getting more money to operate with.

[Leviathan.007]

There are already many threads here on bitcointalk forum about El Salvador and the related governmental organizations accepting bitcoin. El Salvador had one of the worst economic systems and their fiat money was totally invaluable comparing to many other countries, we should remember these days when El Salvador was in a bad situation before accepting bitcoin and see the effect of accepting bitcoin a few years after this year. I'm sure the country will be developed economically and accepting bitcoin by Bancoagricola, the biggest bank in El Salvador can be another step for the adoption of both the El Salvador economic system and bitcoin.

[V-t.Ester]

Doesn’t that mean the end of anonymity of BTC in El Salvador? Just look on their apps: Mobile Banking and e-banking/Business e-banking. They obligatory require KYC: “By using this service you authorize Bancoagrícola to verify, process and share your personal data for the knowledge of the client (such as name, date of birth, email) with the providers that participate in the processing of digital payments and cryptocurrencies, as well as the information that is necessary for the execution of the transactions. By using this service you authorize Bancoagrícola to verify, process and share your personal data for the knowledge of the client (such as name, date of birth, email) with the providers that participate in the processing of digital payments and cryptocurrencies, as well as the information that is necessary for the execution of the transactions. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=https://www.bancoagricola.com/bitcoin.”
Another thing I didn’t like at all: “Any refund made for payments in Bitcoin, will be refunded in dollars, to the account that the client designates”. So in case client needs any refund, he can say “good bye” to his BTC, he will receive back dollars (by the fixed price on the moment of payment or refund is unclear). Hm..

[avikz]

The Biggest bank in El Salvador the Bancoagricola bank, now accepting bitcoin to payments. Also according to the news, the bank has been one of the first to implement bitcoin to support for it's financial instruments(loans, mortgages,credit card debt).

Statement of the Carlos Mauricio Novoa, COO of Bancoagricola :
"We are excited to be the first financial institution in El Salvador to enable bitcoin access for our customers across our entire suite of financial products and to enhance financial inclusion."

My god, El Salvador is doing it, now that one of the country's biggest institution implement bitcoin as payments, other cryptocurrencies will widely spread and might be accepted for payment too, not just the Bancoagricola bank but also other companies and small stores, what do you guys think?  

That's not surprising at all! Because the government of El-Salvador has legalized bitcoin in their country as an official currency besides US dollar. So every bank operating in this country, will be forced to accept bitcoin as a valid currency. It seems Bancoagricola bank is fast enough to make necessary changes in their system and to stay ahead of the competition. The question is that when the remaining banks will be implementing such changes!

[Jawhead999]

other cryptocurrencies will widely spread and might be accepted for payment too

This is joke, legalizing Bitcoin is very hard but legalizing altcoins? It must be very very very hard because you need to be careful of the pump and dump scheme where in a single day the shitcoin could dropped -99%.

Doesn’t that mean the end of anonymity of BTC in El Salvador?

Yes, as long as you use centralized service there's no more privacy. But they didn't get forced to use Chivo, they might only interested with the $30 airdrop. They still has a choice to use non-custodial wallet, so one will know you own that address if you not disclose to any single person.

Another thing I didn’t like at all: “Any refund made for payments in Bitcoin, will be refunded in dollars, to the account that the client designates”.

It's true? if this is true top centralized exchanges are slightly better than Chivo since they can refund you in Bitcoin and better security.

[pawanjain]

The Biggest bank in El Salvador the Bancoagricola bank, now accepting bitcoin to payments. Also according to the news, the bank has been one of the first to implement bitcoin to support for it's financial instruments(loans, mortgages,credit card debt).

Statement of the Carlos Mauricio Novoa, COO of Bancoagricola :
"We are excited to be the first financial institution in El Salvador to enable bitcoin access for our customers across our entire suite of financial products and to enhance financial inclusion."

My god, El Salvador is doing it, now that one of the country's biggest institution implement bitcoin as payments, other cryptocurrencies will widely spread and might be accepted for payment too, not just the Bancoagricola bank but also other companies and small stores, what do you guys think?  

Now that bitcoin is a legal tender in El Salvador we can only imagine how many other companies/banks/startups/merchants will start accepting and using bitcoin as payments.
The thing to consider here is that will El Salvador slowly start accepting other cryptocurrencies as well or will just stick to bitcoin.
Because right now the fees are still comparatively low but the real problems will arise when the bitcoin network is congested and the transaction fees increases.
I think when this happens, it will open a door for El Salvador to accept other cryptocurrencies as a legal tender too.

[electronicash]

the country is accelerating its BTC adoption thru their LN app and then Bancoagricola also joins.
meanwhile the neighboring countries are just not making quick action to also adopt Bitcoin.

by the looks of it, its unimportant now if they'd be sanctioned if they adopt BTC because after all the pandemic is already a sanction itself.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

Not really. In general terms, on can chose to use Chivo wallet, with all the KYC and such, or use any other sort of wallet of their choosing. Let’s say that the government is buying your privacy for 30$ + fees on TXs and conversions, but one can chose not to go along. Regardless, I figure many will use the government wallet until they become familiar with bitcoin, and perhaps then ponder other alternatives.

Now as to the parts you highlight on your post, derived from Bancoagrícola’s app, we need to consider that the app is a traditional banking app, and not a crypto app. It is therefore within the KYC realm by definition. The added crypto functionality is only, at this stage, used to give the user the possibility of making some of his payments (on credit card and loans) with bitcoin from his own bitcoin wallet, be it Chivo or whatever. The banking app is not a Chivo alternative at this stage, but rather remains a traditional banking app with a patch to comply with the laws and regulations derived from the Bitcoin Law.

The refund part is, I figure, because the bank is comfortable using USD, and can currently handle the refund easily by adding USDs to your balance as a customer. Since they have no balance in BTCs, it’s really much easier to do as they’ve done, despite it being contrary to what a proper customer solution to the case should be.

[mk4]

Another thing I didn’t like at all: “Any refund made for payments in Bitcoin, will be refunded in dollars, to the account that the client designates”. So in case client needs any refund, he can say “good bye” to his BTC, he will receive back dollars (by the fixed price on the moment of payment or refund is unclear). Hm..

It actually makes sense. The number of BTC you're going to pay depends on the bitcoin price at that certain moment, and the BTC will automatically be converted to USD. Hence, it just makes sense to return the USD(because it has been converted already anyway, plus the volatility).

[acroman08]

If you followed the news about what El Salvador did, you'll know that it is only a matter of time before businesses(big or small) starts accepting BTC. there's really nothing to be surprised about here.
if you look on the bitcoin discussion board you'll find another thread talking about fast food chains in El Salvador accepting BTC.

[zanezane]

If you followed the news about what El Salvador did, you'll know that it is only a matter of time before businesses(big or small) starts accepting BTC. there's really nothing to be surprised about here.
if you look on the bitcoin discussion board you'll find another thread talking about fast food chains in El Salvador accepting BTC.

This is a surprise though, investment companies are against bitcoin together with the public so seeing a company being all buddy buddy with bitcoin in El Salvador is a surprise for me, maybe they've seen that it's inevitable and either they adopt early and make a lot of profits or resist the inevitable.