As always let me know what you guys think.
Transcript:
This video (below) is part of my Bitcoin in Latin America Series where I will report on the use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Latin America. There will be a complete playlist on YouTube with respect to this topic. Today the Latin American country that I will discuss is Peru, home of the largest Bitcoin exchange, BitInka so stay tuned.
Since I have started this series on Bitcoin in the Southern Hemisphere, I thought it could be interesting to also show case a popular dish from that country. The dish you are looking at is called Ceviche. It is Peru’s national dish. This meal consists of raw fish marinated in citrus juice. The acid in the fruit cooks the fish, giving it a delicate flavor and slightly chewy consistency. So when you visit Peru, you now know of 1 popular dish you can try out.
Alright so moving on here the focus of my discussion about Peru is on its exchange called BitInka. I talked about this exchange in yesterday’s news. But today I will talk more on it. Let’s start with some general statistics on Peru.
My analysis below takes a look at a decentralized exchange known as LocalBitcoins. It is a Bitcoin broker based in Helsinki, Finland that facilitates over-the-counter trading of local Bitcoins. Here people are able to participate peer-to-peer in the buying and selling of Bitcoin with cash or paying via online banking.
With respect to LocalBitcoins, I tapped into the Bitcoin volumes tracked through a site called coin.dance. Coin.dance gathers metrics and statistics about Bitcoin ranging from volume to gender use.
I went through a list of countries covered under coin.dance that transacted via LocalBitcoins. Next I calculated the volume increase of Bitcoin transactions within the past year. This volume represents both the buying and selling of this cryptocurrency. So with respect to Peru year to date, it has seen a 200% increase in Bitcoin volume (below). Though the economy of Peru is relatively stable and conservative compared to its neighbors, the benefits of transacting in Bitcoin is due to residents trying to capitalize on its increase as an alternative investment strategy and transact peer-to-peer. The population of this country currently stands at 32 million people with average per capita income of $13, 500 per year. The economy of Peru is classified as upper middle income by the World Bank and the 39th in the world.
So going over the Bitcoin related information I have found about this country from an article... BitInka (site below) is a Bitcoin exchange based out in Peru. This exchange allows folks to buy and sell Bitcoins. It's seen a 44% growth in its business this past year and now it plans to launch an app called InkaPay. Supposedly this article said the app should have launched already but there is still rumor on feature expansions within the app going into September of this year and the last time I checked, the app is definitely not on the Apple Store. The Perun exchange currently allows people to buy and sell Bitcoin using their own local currency. The new additions to the app also allows for credit card purchases of Bitcoin. The exchange currently supports 10 different currencies. The country BitInka supports include includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Chile, China, Spain, México, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. The founder of the company is Roger Benites, with educational background in international business and engineering along with management positions from various financial industries.
So the current trend I am noticing from all the foreign Bitcoin exchange videos that I have done is how they are experiencing a lot of growth in their business this year which is definitely bullish for Bitcoin. If you guys have any questions or comments on this exchange, please feel free to put it below in the comments section and I’ll reply back to it.