8,000 Convenience Stores in Argentina Sell Bitcoin

BitPagos has launched Ripio, a new bitcoin brokerage service that allows consumers in Argentina to buy small amounts of bitcoin at more than 8,000 convenience stores.
To achieve this goal, Ripio will integrate with TeleRecargas, a popular mobile phone service that allows consumers the ability to prepay for cell phone plans at a network of partner convenience stores across Argentina.
Argentina and Palo Alto-based bitcoin merchant processor BitPagos raised $600,000 from prominent bitcoin angel investors earlier this year. The company’s CEO Sebastian Serrano told CoinDesk that Ripio aims to target underbanked consumers as well as existing bitcoin users who want an easy way to buy bitcoins at a physical location.
He explained:

“You can go to any location, give them your account in Ripio and the amount of pesos you want to get in bitcoins. Boom: you have some bitcoins. It’s going be extremely easy to use and to buy bitcoins easily, securely and near you, even if you don’t have a bank account. We think that this is going to push adoption.”

For now, the service will only be available in Argentina, though Serrano sees the service as broadly appealing to consumers in other Latin American markets that could benefit from an easy bitcoin buying solution.
In particular, Serrano said BitPagos is looking to expand Ripio to Venezuela, but that this program expansion will take time to achieve.

How Ripio works

While Ripio works primarily at physical locations, Serrano indicated that users must first complete an initial registration on the platform’s website.
Users next print their Ripio ID and search the service’s map for available stores. Still, Serrano is confident that these elements of the service will be convenient for on-the-go users or those still learning the basics of bitcoin management.

Read more at:

http://www.coindesk.com/bitpagos-brings-bitcoin-8000-convenience-stores-ripio/