Bitcoin Tracker: The Unbanked-Profit Dilemma

Can the unbanked benefit from bitcoin, or are they merely the experimental subjects of bitcoin adherents, lobbyists and scientists? This week’s Bitcoin Tracker takes a look at the recent bitcoin projects that are in the news and that are targeting the unbanked.
Bitso Eyes The Latin Market
The regulatory framework for bitcoin is a mess in Mexico, as it is in most countries, but Bitso, a bitcoin exchange startup, sees a future in Mexico and Latin America. Daniel Vogel, cofounder and president of Bitso, told CoinDesk: ‘There are some places where there’s been a significant amount of bitcoin activity in Latin America, but there are other places that are very, very quiet. I think those places are very interesting.’
Bitso was founded in 2014, and the startup has just raised $2.5 million from investors, such as Monex Group, which conducted $160 billion in transactions last year in Europe, Latin America and the U. S.
The users of the exchange, however, do not appear to be the power brokers of the world, or even Latin America. Vogel said few users are making speculative investments, and most use accounts to pay for online games or as a P2P lending platform. ‘We almost have no speculative players in our exchange. Most of what we see are people who are using this technology to achieve something.’

This post was published at Pymnts on September 30, 2016.