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Bitcoin Cash, the cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin, is accepted by more shops and businesses in Venezuela than the original bitcoin cryptocurrency, Brazilian crypto outlet Cointimes reports.
The news site compared data from map.bitcoin.com for venues accepting Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Coinmap and Opendatasoft for those accepting Bitcoin (BTC.)
The data, published on Friday, suggest that bitcoin is accepted by a total of 323 venues nationwide, but Bitcoin Cash takes the lead with 360. In the capital Caracas alone, BCH is welcomed by more venues than accept BTC in all of Venezuela, according to the data.
The Bitcoin Cash House
If true, the statistics indicate that the Bitcoin Cash community’s adoption drive in Venezuela has been a great success—and there’s more to come.
Their latest initiative is a physical Bitcoin Cash House in Barquisimeto, a city with a population of almost one million in the North West of the country. The idea is to provide a venue where Venezuelans can learn about the acquisition, storage, and use of crypto. The Bitcoin Cash House is sponsored by bitcoin.com, which provides services for both BTC and BCH, and Sideshift.ai, provider of automated coin swaps.
Announcing the launch of the initiative on Reddit on Friday, Bitcoin.com manager Matt Aaron wrote: “Having a physical location is POWERFUL. We, the crypto community, talk ‘trustless.’ But the rest of the world has to earn that trust. In person conversations are powerful.”
Dash defector
The case for Bitcoin Cash in Venezuela got a further boost last month when George Donnelly, who was instrumental in getting the Dash cryptocurrency adopted throughout Latin America, joined the cause.
Donnelly left Dash after its focus on Latin America (Dash Latam) was scrapped because of a change in strategy, he said. He’s now created a new platform, Prosuni, and is planning to promote BCH to over 1,000 previously Dash-centric merchants that he has on his books, filling the vacuum left by Dash.
“Bitcoin Cash understands and values merchant adoption from what I can see,” Donnelly said in an interview with CoinSpice on Sunday. “It is a top 5 crypto, this gives people greater trust when accepting crypto. There are existing innovative tools for accepting and paying with Bitcoin Cash, also liquidity is good.”
Using BCH for food and taxis
In the North Western city of Maracaibo, Bitcoin Cash has another valuable proponent.
Oscar Salas, a graphic designer by trade, promotes BCH through meetups and media outreach on international publications and podcasts. Since October he’s been persuading more than 200 taxi drivers in the city of 1.6 million inhabitants to accept BCH.
With food shortages a priority for many Venezuelans, one of the most successful and longest-standing BCH initiatives is EatBCH. Since its launch in 2018, the non profit has used Bitcoin Cash donations to buy food for starving Venezuelans, especially children.