McDonald’s Begins Accepting Bitcoin as Payment Method in El Salvador, Starbucks & Pizza Hut Follow

McDonald’s, a major US fast-food company, has begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment option in El Salvador after the nation became the first to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender on Tuesday, September 7.

OpenNode, an industry-leading bitcoin payment processor based in California, confirmed the development, stating that McDonald’s in El Salvador is now accepting Bitcoin payments on the Lightning Network powered by OpenNode.

OpenNode mentioned that it has formed a collaboration with McDonald's to start accepting Bitcoin payments. The two firms are working together to enable Lightning Network bitcoin payments at all McDonald’s locations in the country.

McDonald’s customers in El Salvador are now able to use Bitcoin to pay for Big Macs and other items on the menu at all 19 McDonald’s locations in the country and online and through the delivery app, OpenNode stated.

Julie Landrum, Head of Growth for OpenNode, talked about the development and said:

"We are incredibly excited to work with McDonald's to help make adoption of the country's Bitcoin Law an operational success. It's just a massive opportunity to demonstrate the power of the Lightning Network for everyday high volume, low-value purchases at the most popular and successful fast-food chain in the world. Clearly another significant milestone on the path to growing the bitcoin economy…"  

Although McDonald’s seems to be the first major American firm to adjust to El Salvador’s cryptocurrency initiative, the OpenNode spokesperson stated that the Bitcoin payment company is onboarding multiple multi-billion-dollar businesses in El Salvador to start accepting Bitcoin payments.

According to Bloomberg reported Wednesday, other beverages and food chain restaurants, such as Starbucks and Pizza Hut also accept Bitcoin as the payment approach.

Embracing Bitcoin

On Tuesday, September 7, El Salvador became the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender alongside its existing currency, the US dollar. It allows citizens living in the country to pay taxes and other debts using Bitcoin and for businesses to broaden their payment options to the cryptocurrency.

However, El Salvador’s historic adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender on September 7 started with teething problems as the crypto market plunged. Bitcoin prices dropped from over $52,000 per coin to $42,830, its lowest level in almost the last year three weeks on Tuesday morning.  Bitcoin later recovered some of its value by climbing to the $46,957 level at around 1:45 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). At the time of writing, Bitcoin is currently trading at $47,070.88, still 10.87% below a day earlier.