Brazil’s leading payment processor begins accepting bitcoin

Brazil’s biggest payment processor, Cielo, has unveiled support for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, on its 1.4 million point-of-sale devices throughout the country. 

The news was unveiled at the annual Blockmaster cryptocurrency conference, reports Cointelegraph Brasil. 

Users will be able to send crypto to devices via a QR code–users will need an account with Uzzo or Criptohub, Cielo’s network partners. From October, the company is planning to go one step further and accept crypto payments without the need for a point-of-sale device. 

As per the report, a mobile app, CieloPay, would be used to generate the QR code instead. The app, launching on October 14, will enable remote payments through applications such as WhatsApp and online stores.

Cielo president Paulo Caffarelli said that the company’s banking partners, Banco do Brasil and Bradesco Bradesco, are backing the new crypto payments offering. 

That could be because the competition to introduce crypto payment services independent of point-of-sale is hotting up in Brazil. Earlier this month, Banco Inter, one of the first banks in Brazil to go digital, announced, on Instagram, that it is launching a new card payment method. The system will dispense with the need for a point-of sale device, and would also allow payment with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

In Brazil then, crypto payments are all set to become as easy as pie.