Major Annual Latin American Bitcoin Conference – LaBITconf will take place in Mexico City on December 4-5, 2015. The great part of the conferences and panels here will be held in Spanish with simultaneous translations, so it’s a very important source of information for Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in Latin America and beyond.
Jose Rodriguez, Executive member of the organizational committee LaBitConf Mexico, who is also a key member of the Mexican Bitcoin Community and Vice President of Payments at Bitso, with Pablo Gonzalez, CEO of Bitso, gave an exclusive interview to Cointelegraph and told about the development of Mexican market.
CT: How difficult is it to promote Bitcoin and the Blockchain in Mexico? Which problems do these technologies face in the country?
Jose Rodriguez: The first barrier is language, although many Mexicans speak English, most don’t, and the majority of the information, conferences, news and documents were in english. It is great that in the last year more news sites got a Spanish version. Then you face the usual, lack of confidence in the system, bad reputation due to negative news, and tech, accessibility and financial barriers for new users, Bitcoin still needs to be more user friendly for newcomers.
CT: And how does the Mexican government treat Bitcoin and the Blockchain? Are banks friendly to those innovations?
Pablo Gonzalez: In terms of banks, it depends. Some banks are very friendly to Bitcoin, some aren't. However, compliance departments are a completely different story as they will not approve Bitcoin activity until there is regulatory clarity.
Mexico has a handful of very innovative and forward-thinking banks, and they are dying to begin exploring uses for Bitcoin & Blockchain technology. Even then, they are tied up by the burdensome processes inherent to these massive institutions. Most innovation in Mexico will happen outside the banking system.
CT: Do you have some established contacts with markets in other countries?
Jose Rodriguez: We have been working and collaborating with companies in other countries, exchanging experiences and ideas. The most interesting markets for our business is where Mexico has more business relation, USA. There is a huge opportunity in remittance and international payments, we are working hard to create more and better options using Bitcoin technology.
CT: What are Bitso future plans?
Jose Rodriguez: We announced a partnership with BitPay in October to settle their transactions in Mexico and help collaborate to develop the local market.