Bitmobile hits the road in Latin America

The not-for-profit adventure is sponsored by NGO’s Bitcoin Argentina and Bitcoin Latin America.

“It’s a dream to be able to bring Bitcoin and blockchain technology to the people of Latin America who do not have routine access to this kind of knowledge,” says one of the founders of the project, Gabriel Kurman. “The idea behind the Bitcoineta (or Bitmobile) is to visit every small town and city of Argentina and later, the rest of the continent, teaching people how they can benefit from this technology.”

The van is equipped with a screen that will serve as a blackboard and also project movies about blockchain and Bitcoin. “The first time you hear about these technologies it’s difficult to understand their implications in the present and the future. So, to begin to plant the blockchain seed in the different communities will allow us to harvest the fruits in a few years,” says Julian Drangosch, a National Technological University (UTN) professor and the first person to board the Bitcoineta.

There are no set schedules or deadlines for the Bitmobile, but the plan is to be in Santiago, Chile by the end of this year, after which it will go on to the rest of the continent. Over a month after departing from Buenos Aires, the Argentinian capital, the Bicoineta has 776 followers on Twitter and a similar following on Facebook.

“Surprisingly, a lot of people write to us suggesting new ideas to connect nearby places where we go. Sometimes we are able to organise ourselves on the way and pass through these cities,” the group says.

“About Bitcoin, we believe that in the future it can be a very strong economic system and it would be great for everyone to have the possibility to be part of it,” the group adds. “But it is also important to understand it. You need to understand value, trust, redefine transparency, rethink power and better understand the meaning behind freedom.”

“As money, it is faster and cheaper than banks. It is programmable, divisible, unfalsifiable, non-seizable, scarce, it cannot be manipulated by any state, and more. As technology, it provides transparency and efficiency that would allow enterprises and states have higher trust and benefits that have never been imagined before.”