A new partnership between bitcoin wallet solution Snapcard and leading Brazilian mobile payments startup PagPop has enabled 12,000 Brazilian businesses to accept bitcoin. Merchants already using PagPop can now accept the digital currency by default, with no need to install additional software. "We’ve been exploring the region of Brazil because it’s got this perfect climate where bitcoin can flourish as a currency compared to the local currency that has been significantly devalued,” Snapcard CEO Michael Dunworth told Bitcoin Magazine. “Moreover, in Brazil and other Latin American countries, when accepting a credit card, payment is not released to the merchant for usually 30 days… and the fees are some 5 percent. That inhibits businesses significantly from an operational cashflow perspective. With bitcoin payouts, they’re next day if being settled to local currency, or in real time if they’re settling in bitcoin.” PagPop, founded in 2006, enables product sellers or service providers to accept credit card payments using smartphones, tablets and an optional magnetic stripe reader. Through Snapcard Point of Sale, PagPop users can now easily accept bitcoin payments from their customers and get paid in Brazilian real on their bank accounts. “We looked at all the players in the space based on the product positioning, and their current market penetration,” Dunworth explained. “This is when we reached out to PagPop. They’re extremely excited about bitcoin just like us, so the conversation flowed naturally for us to start getting things up and running, ready for market." Snapcard is a rapidly growing bitcoin wallet, claiming 25,000 merchants and over 75,000 active users worldwide. This has resulted in more than $250,000 in payments per day and an average of nearly 70 percent month-over-month growth, according to the company.
