Bitcoin keeps expanding everywhere around the world, and this time, the world’s first inter-banking transaction using BTC has been performed. Bitex.la, one of the most important crypto and blockchain services providers in Argentina and Latin America, was in charge of the operation. The transaction has been performed between two banks located in Argentina and Spain.
First Bitcoin Inter-Banking Transaction
Different banks and financial entities in many countries are starting to use blockchain technology so as to improve their products and services. There are some other banks, including JP Morgan, that have developed their own virtual currencies.
CryptStorm informed some days ago about an Argentinian bank that was going to use Bitcoin for cross-border transactions. The same bank, known as Banco Masventas, was able to perform this transaction using Bitex’s services.
According to a tweet uploaded by Bitex, the transaction was performed on June the 1st. A client in Argentina sent Argentine pesos to a bank in Spain, where the bank received euros. The important fact here was that the transaction was sent using the most famous cryptocurrency: Bitcoin.
Hace unos instantes realizamos la primer transferencia internacional usando #bitcoin para el @BancoMasventas. Se pagaron $ars y se recibieron $eur en España en cuestión de minutos. Bienvenidos al futuro. #blockchain #banks #crossborder #payments #Argentina #innovation 🇦🇷🚀🌐
— Bitex (@bitexla) June 2, 2018
The tweet uploaded by Bitex reads as follows:
“Some minutes ago, we performed the first international transfer using #bitcoin for #BancoMasventas. $ars were sent and $eur were received in Spain in a just a matter of minutes. Welcome to the future.”
The transaction was included in the block number 525527.
CryptStorm was able to contact Manuel Beaudroit co-founder of Bitex who kindly accepted to tell us more about this experience:
“We have several clients, an important number of banks that are interested in these technologies. Working with this entity [Banco Masventas] was an exciting experience that would make negotiations with other clients much easier.”
The partnership was announced some weeks ago, and the integration has been very fast. That shows the compromise that these two institutions have to offer good quality services to their clients.
Cryptocurrency Situation in Argentina
Argentina has been involved in the virtual currency market since a very long time. There are important developers working all over the world, and Mauricio Macri’s government has been very open towards these latest technologies.
The regulatory agencies in the country have been pushing for integrating the country into the latest fin-tech trends around the world. For example, Argentina is going to be the first country to have an immediate transfer system between bank accounts and non-banking virtual accounts.
Moreover, alongside with Singapore, it will be the first country to deploy a payment system interoperable with QR code.
Argentina también es, junto a Singapur, el primer país del mundo en tener un sistema de pago interoperable con código QR, es decir: todas las billeteras electrónicas leen el mismo código. Entiendo que el futuro parezca lejos, pero siempre llega más rápido de lo pensado.
— lucas llach (@lucasllach) May 15, 2018
“Since two years we are taking with the Central Bank in Argentina,” said Mr. Beaudroit. “Without its support it would be impossible to keep working with these technologies.”