It is now possible to use bitcoins for exchanging currencies in Rio de Janeiro. In early May, Europa Network currency exchange office started to accept bitcoin for purchase and sale of foreign currencies.
The operations have already passed through the testing phase and began to occur at Shopping Leblon, in Rio´s upscale neighborhoods. It is also possible to perform operations at online stores, and the delivery is also guaranteed to São Paulo metropolitan area. The news was featured on the site of Estadão.
The expectation is that until the end of June, 25 physical branches of the group will be able to perform the transaction. According to the company’s founder, Tulio Ferreira dos Santos, the purchase will take about three seconds to be executed. “The process is like a standard purchase. We have a credit card machine that makes the transaction”
In order to perform the operation, the currency office needed to establish a system, since the bitcoin is not considered a financial asset in Brazil. Thus, the cryptocoin exits the buyer´s online portfolio to a brokerage house that belongs to the exchange office group. The latter will be responsible to release the equivalent in Reais on Europa´s branch bank account. Santos points out, however, that there is no legislation grey area whatsoever. “Officially, every transaction with the currency exchange office is in Reais,” he says.
Currency Exchange Office in SP
This is not the first exchange company that operates with cryptocoins. The 3xBit opened at the end of January a currency exchange office that operates with cryptocoins at a mall in Campinas. In this way, travelers have one more option to exchange cryptocoins to local currencies. And as a result, this becomes another incentive to hold values in crypto. Exchange offices such as 3xCâmbio and Europa Exchange units can become very common in the next few years as the demand continues to grow.
