How well is Bitcoin and Blockchain adopted in Mexico? Let‘s take a look at BAS in Central Americas biggest country.
To make a comparison on the adoption grade easier, I suggest to use the Blockchain Adaption Score, considering 5 categories:
- Buying Bitcoin: How convenient is it to buy Bitcoin in Mexico?
- Paying: How about retailers and other facilities accepting Bitcoin?
- Blockchain-Economy: Start-up scene, established companies adopting blockchain & communities.
- Search Trends: How popular is Bitcoin & Blockchain amongst the people?
- Governance: How is the countries government dealing with cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology in general?
If you have any missing info on Blockchain in Mexico, please use the comments section.
1. Buy and trade Bitcoin in the Mexico (score 2.5/10)
Mexican local Bitcoin Volume of the global market: 0,47% (65:13700 BTC measured last week)
check Coin.dance for more info on global BTC volume.
Besides international trading platforms like Localbitcoins or Mycelium for exchanging locally, you can use national mexican online exchanges like Bitso.com or Volabit.comto buy BTC with Mexican Pesos.
ATM situation
Coinatmradar.com is currently listing 3 Bitcoin ATMs in Mexico, which is not much for one of the biggest countries in the world with a population of 123 million. One of them is in Mexico City and 2 in Tijuana.
BTC ATM density: 0.02%
(ATM per million residents)
2. Pay with Bitcoin (score 3.5/10)
Coinmap.org is revealing about 130 entries in Mexico which is not bad for quite a poor country. The hot spot is Mexico City with about 40 entries, followed by tourists area Cancun with 12 entries as well as in Acapulco and Guadalajara. Facilities include hotels, Restaurants and shops.Pay with Bitcoin at Seven 11 and Ghandi bookstores
Since 2014 in Mexico it is possible to pay with a smartphone Wallet called Pademobile. The wallet can be loaded with Bitcoin via Coinbase, which makes it indirectly possible to pay with Bitcoin at Seven 11 and Ghandi bookstores in Mexico.
Caution: I could not verify that Pademobile is still operating, as their last social media entry is from 2015, and I cannot download their apps on the Android Play Store from Europe. Maybe there are Steemers in Mexico that could verify this?!
For a complete list of international Bitcoin accepting facilities and shops (most of them online only) check Bitcoin Wiki.
(This overview is only including local facilities accepting Bitcoin. Probably incomplete, so please post your links in the comments.)
3. Blockchain Economy (score 4/10)
Community:
There are currently several Mexico Blockchain Meetups
Bitcoin Mexico Facebook group +8000 members.
Start-ups
Mexico has a leading role in terms of FinTech companies in South America. However just a view of them are working with blockchain technology.
Finnovista is a Venture Capital Investor based on FinTech in South America.
Consuelo.mx offers micro credits.
Bitso.com and
Volabit.com wallets and exchanges thrive as the demand for sending money to Mexico with low transfer fees is high.
Prestadero - FinTech startup, credit-lender exchange.
Ripio - bitcoin and digital payments company.
Trato - Contracts with Technology (Blockchain, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence).
Openpay A mexican FinTech recently acquired by BBVA Bancomer
Corporate Initiatives:
- Mexicos biggest Bank BBVA (actually headqueter is in Spain) just recently acquired OpenPay, a Fintech able to make Bitcoin transfers.
Ethereum Enterprise Alliance members from Mexico: (0/116)
Listed Members: -
Global Bitcoin Nodes Distribution: MX is ranked 51st with 7 nodes (< 1%)
Education
not any known offer
4. Bitcoin Trends Mexico (score 2.5/10)
Google Trends is a decent source to get a glimpse of the popularity of certain search terms. I checked how the mexican people were searching here in the last 30 days, in comparison with the global community.
Bitcoin: 35.
Ethereum: 57.
Steemit: 54.
Blockchain: 70.
5. Known Government and Central Bank activities (score 2/10)
Blockchain technology can solve a lot of problems the banking sector especially in less developed countries like Mexico are facing. However, in Mexico there seems to be not much progress with central Bank an government:
A digital peso would solve many problems, the initiative Peso Digital is confessed: Stop the decline of the peso, corruption, faster and cheaper international transfers, micro payments. However, there are no known results of the initiative yet.
Initiatives try to open authorities like Mexican Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Banking and Securities Commission for blockchain technology. One result: A new bill considers Bitcoin as a digital asset in Mexico and set rules for Bitcoin exchanges in march 2017. most important: Bitcoin is allowed for use.
Overview Score Mexico:
1. Buy and Trade Bitcoin: (score 2.5/10)
2. Pay with Bitcoin (score 3.5/10)
3. Blockchain economy (score 4/10)
4. Google Trends Mexico (score 2.5/10)
5. Governance (score 2/10)
Overall
Blockchain Adaption Score
Mexico:
(2.9/10)
The next country in America I will check is Canada.
Thank you very much for this important information, México it is at this time emerging from the darkness, my perception is that it still is going to take at least at the end of the next year to have a significant amount of people to thrust in this initiatives. It is a great opportunity for small enterprise like mine to get a tiny piece of the cake, plus help the acceleration of the adoption you mention.
I like your idea of evaluating crypto by country. Especially since I am considering retiring in Mexico from Canada...
I can't find your review of Canada?
This is a great investigation! However your links are not working, I would love to see all investigated countries. Thank you for the great work!
Very informative, lots of good information. This was the first time I heard of the Exchanges used to trade the Peso. One thing though, you mentioned Mexico being part of Central America as then compared it to South America. However, Mexico is in North America. But I see why you would compare it to Central and South America in terms of adoption. You got an up-vote!