Bitcoin was made legal tender in El Salvador earlier this year on September 7, requiring all businesses to accept BTC as payment. But even with President Nayib Bukele’s mandate, many businesses have yet to adopt the needed technology to accept bitcoin for their products and services. Bitrefill aims to help in fixing this by offering a service that allows El Salvadorans to pay over 150 different bills in BTC.
This new service will allow El Salvadorans and their families abroad to pay for their rent, power, water, internet, phone (mobile & landline), and TV bills using the Bitcoin Lightning Network as well as on-chain transactions. This gives another option to family members living abroad to help their loved ones in El Salvador, being able to skip ridiculous remittance fees and bank wires by utilizing Bitcoin.
The service, announced today at the Adopting Bitcoin conference in El Salvador, will launch starting with the following services providers for their bill paying program: CAESS, DIGICEL, BELCORP, SKY, FONDO SOLICIAL PARA LA VIVIENDA, CIELO, TELEFONICA MOVIL, DEUSEM, CLESA, CLARO, EEO, DELSUR, and ANDA.
To use the service, all that is required is an email address to receive a receipt and voucher code, as well as to contact customer service if needed.
Bitrefill is a popular company amongst Bitcoiners giving them access to over 4,000 gift cards by paying in BTC. Earlier this year they partnered with El Salvadoran startup Hugo App to enable bitcoin to be exchanged for a vast variety of goods and services offered by Hugo.