Mexican Retail Store Elektra to Accept Bitcoin as Payment for Services

Mexican retail store Elektra will start accepting the leading cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC) as payment for its services, making it the first to do so in the country, according to a recent Reuters report.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, a Mexican billionaire and founder of Grupo Salinas which is the corporate conglomerate of Elektra, today confirmed the news via a tweet saying that the retail store will be “offering a 20% discount on purchases with bitcoin.”

“The rumors are true. Elektra is the first (retail) store in Mexico that allows you to buy with bitcoin… I’m very sorry to beat the competition again,” he added.

As part of the development, the firm has picked crypto payment processor BitPay as its BTC payment service provider.

Salinas is an admirer of Bitcoin as he announced via a tweet six months ago that he was seeking ways to make Banco Azteca, a banking institution that is a subsidiary of Elektra, accept BTC as a payment option.

“Sure, I recommend the use of #Bitcoin, and me and my bank are working to be the first bank in Mexico to accept #Bitcoin, if you need more details or information follow me on my Twitter account ????,” he tweeted.

Mexican Regulators Don’t View BTC as Payment Option

Currently, there are no official bans or restrictions on cryptocurrency use in Mexico.

However, the government and regulatory authorities in the country have criticized and taken a stricter approach to regulate the emerging asset class.

Back in September, Alejandro Díaz de León, Mexico’s Central Bank Governor, disapproved of  BTC, saying that he views it as a product rather than a medium of exchange.

Diaz noted that whoever accepts BTC as payment for goods is only practising trade by barter – which is an exchange of goods for goods.

He also said that what should only be viewed as money are fiats issued by a country’s central bank.

Meanwhile, criticism has not stopped the leading cryptocurrency from being used as a medium of exchange in different industries.

For instance, just last month, the biggest movie theater chain in the world, AMC announced it had started accepting BTC alongside other cryptocurrencies as online payment options.