Venezuela’s Main Airport to Accept Cryptos as Payment for Flight Tickets & Services

Venezuela’s main airport is reportedly preparing to begin accepting cryptocurrencies as payment for tickets and other services.

Simon Bolivar International Airport, Venezuela’s largest airport and famously known as Maiquetia, has recently announced that it is preparing to add Dash, Bitcoin, and Petro as a payment method for customers purchasing flight tickets and other services.

  Freddy Borges, the Maiquetia Airport director, talked about the development and said that the airport plans to accept several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dash, and Venezuela-based pegged digital currency, the Petro – a Venezuelan government-issued digital currency.

Borges said that the plan aims to make payments more universal and modern.

He further elaborated that the airport’s administration would establish a payment process in crypto assets within the requirements of the local regulator, Sunacrip – the Venezuelan cryptocurrency watchdog.

“We must advance in these new economic and technological systems to be accessible. We will activate a button for cryptocurrency payments in the airport platforms and commercial activities, in coordination with Sunacrip,” 

The Simon Bolivar International Airport locates in downtown Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, receives typically more than two million passengers every year passing through the facility. 

Borges mentioned that introducing cryptocurrency payment at the Simon Bolivar International Airport would fulfil the firm’s commitment to advance toward international standards and drive digital currency adoption. He further said that foreign tourists, including those from Russia, would benefit from the option of a cryptocurrency payment.

The Digital Bolivar Circulating

With a high inflation rate in Venezuela, almost nobody wants to pay with cash anymore. This phenomenon explains why cryptocurrencies are being used fundamentally in the country more than in nearly any other nation. Cryptocurrencies are believed to make everyday life much easier in Venezuela.

A rising number of Venezuelans are significantly investing their savings in cryptocurrencies, and everyday payments are increasingly being made with Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Chainalysis blockchain analytics firm recently ranked Venezuela third in the world in terms of daily cryptocurrency use.

Venezuela’s central bank has been revamping its national currency, the bolivar, and experimenting with central bank digital currency (CBDC) – the digital Venezuelan bolivar.

On October 1, the central bank rolled out the circulation of its CBDC (the Petro, an oil-backed cryptocurrency launched by the government in February 2018).  

For the hyperinflation facing Venezuela, the launch of the centralized digital currency is considered to be a temporary solution for the country’s cash issuance problems.