Brazil Adds Bitcoin as a Payment Option for Public Transportation

One of Brazil‘s largest city Fortaleza has announced it will be accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment for public transportation by the end of this year. 

According to reports from local news media “O Povo” by The Ceara State Co-operative Autonomous Passenger Co-operative (Cootraps) late last week, the authorities stressed the need for other modes of payment to be added to the current cash system in the purchase of bus tickets including Bitcoin, credit and debit cards.  

Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceará, is a Brazilian city that is considered the fifth-largest city in the country with a population of about 2.7 million people. 

It is no news that there is widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies for the payment of goods and services in different parts of the world. 

So many people believe there is a tendency of increasing the patronage for a particular service while using cryptos as one of the payment options. 

One of such believers is Carlos Robério Sampaio, the chief financial officer of Cootraps. 

“This is a way of reducing bureaucracy, even bringing more users into transport. We expect a larger flow of people; we will make it easier for users,” said Carlos.

The latest development could help reduce the cost of operation and bring more users, thereby improving the efficiency of the city’s transportation payment system as there is no need for the use of a third party in the purchase of tickets with the latest features. 

In the case of using bank cards for payment, passengers will be required to make payment via an approach system. While for the Bitcoin payment option, users will be required to download a payment app on a smartphone that will generate a QR code while making payment.

Cootraps also stated that there is a possibility of adding other cryptocurrencies as payment options in the future. However, they failed to give the names of cryptocurrencies that will be considered. 

Brazil has been in the news for crypto-related reasons in the past. Although many would consider the South American Nation as being slow in its involvement with cryptos, it has recorded significant feats. 

In October 2018, a Federal District Court in Brazil ordered two Brazilian banks to reopen an account owned by a local crypto exchange firm, Bitcoin Max. 

In another development, The Department of Federal Revenue of Brazil (RFB) in charge of taxation and revenue in the country also recently published new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.