By Francisco Pescatori

Buenos Aires, May 11 (EFE).– Argentines and foreign tourists alike are patronizing Bitcoffee, a downtown Buenos Aires coffee shop that boasts of being the first business of its kind in Latin America to accept the virtual bitcoin currency.

“This is a coffee shop like the type you find in the United States, but with Argentine style,” Matias Caputi, a founding partner of Bitcoffee, told Efe. “The idea is to have a friendly place where people can relax and be in touch with technology without it being invasive.”

“I often found myself working on projects on my own at coffee shops and bars where, in general, I didn’t have a place to plug in the computer or the cell phone,” Matias said, explaining how the idea developed for his shop. “I noticed a need in this area and I got the idea for Bitcoffee.”

Caputi, a 30-year-old systems engineer, said the coffee shop’s name came from “bit,” the basic unit in computing and communications, and that after several customers asked if he would accept bitcoins, he decided to use the virtual currency for his business.

“Since we started working with virtual money, we have had several customers pay that way and, on the marketing side, it was a hit,” Caputi said, adding that just a few people paid with bitcoin, but they were “very loyal customers.”

“We are getting a very good response from people, especially those between 15 and 45, who are most accustomed to using cell phones and interacting with ATMs,” Caputi said.

The number of bitcoin users in Argentina is still low, but the virtual currency’s popularity has spread from people working in information technology to those who use it for commercial transactions.

Legislation on virtual currencies is still vague, but bitcoin lets users buy and sell by paying without intermediaries, such as a bank, state or any other institution, regulating the transaction.

At Bitcoffee, customers order off a digital menu, enter their selection and name, and tell the cashier whether the payment will be in regular money or bitcoin.

Customers choosing to use the virtual currency go to a computer and click on the QR prompt to pay.

“The idea came to me when I was in Brazil and, at the time, I didn’t speak Portuguese. At a restaurant, I ordered a meal not knowing exactly what it was, and they ended up serving me anything,” Matias said, referring to the introduction of a digital menu. EFE