Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas will begin accepting bitcoin as payment at his Elektra stores, he announced Thursday in a tweet.
The move comes even as the central bank has repeatedly said that cryptocurrencies are not considered legal tender in the country and cannot be used to buy or sell goods.
Elektra’s website displays an ad banner saying that customers who pay in bitcoin will get a 20% discount on all their purchases from Thursday until December 31.
Elektra will display a price provided by BitPay which will correspond to the equivalent amount of bitcoin in Mexican pesos that customers have to pay. There will be a time limit for that price to be valid taking into account volatility, say the terms and conditions of the site.
Financial institutions cannot allow consumers to buy and sell goods using cryptocurrencies, although companies can use the technology internally, according to the central bank, known as Banxico.
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Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
