Venezuelans can now enjoy a bite of their favorite fried chicken and pay via crypto at restaurants run by fast food giant KFC.

KFC in Venezuela announced last week that it would officially begin accepting payments made via the cryptocurrency Dash (DASH) this week.

The move sees KFC join a rising number of fast-food chains that have adopted crypto payments in the Bolivarian Republic, including Papa John’s pizza and Subway.

According to a news report by Forbes, KFC will begin by rolling out the new payment program at its main store in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

After Caracas, KFC will then embark on expansion effort that should see its customers in 24 locations across the country access the restaurant’s services and pay using DASH.

Dash merchant adoption in Venezuela

As more people move towards crypto, the number of merchants accepting Dash payments has increased.

Alejandro Echeverría puts the number of merchants accepting DASH in the country at about 2,445, most of them coming on board through efforts developed to promote the adoption of Dash payments.

Dash Merchant Venezuela, co-founded by Echeverria (he is also the founder of Dash Text) has over the last several months, worked with KFC to encourage more merchants to accept Dash.

The use of the digital currency has grown, and is now more of a movement in the country, “spreading and growing fast,” says Echeverría.

“First it was food trucks and small family businesses that started to adopt Dash for payments. Now we’re attracting more established businesses.”

To help the majority of citizens use Dash, Echeverria helped launch the Dash Text payment service, which is an SMS-based service that helps facilitate cryptocurrency transactions for those who cannot access the internet or afford a smartphone.

The service has been a big hit in the poverty-stricken country where up to 60 percent of the population has limited access to internet connectivity and cannot afford to own a smartphone.

According to Echeverría, Dash has the potential to emerge as a leading payment option in the country. It is such potential that has seen Dash Merchant Venezuela push to have the number of merchants accepting Dash grow to 10,000 merchants in 2019.

Venezuelans prefer Dash over Bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency for that matter because the former offers transaction confirmation times that are comparatively faster than the latter.

For instance, a typical Bitcoin transaction will take about 10 minutes, while Dash averages about two-and-a-half minutes per transaction.

KFC’s ‘Bitcoin Bucket’

Crypto payments are growing in Venezuela, and KFC now accepts Dash, but it is hardly the first time the restaurant chain has accepted or promoted the use of cryptocurrency.

KFC Canada launched a marketing campaign dubbed the ‘Bitcoin Bucket,’ early January this year, a move that saw the company allow its customers to pay for ‘a bucket of chicken’ using Bitcoin (BTC).

The Bitcoin Bucket sold out, unsurprisingly, within an hour after it was announced to be ready.

At the time, KFC Canada cracked a joke out of the whole marketing stunt posting on Twitter that the company may not “know exactly what Bitcoins are, or how they work.” However, it added that it should not stop the use of bitcoin to pay for the fried chicken.

Venezuela turns to petro (PTR) crypto

The economic crisis engulfing the South American nation has seen the bolivar, the national currency, become worthless as inflation levels hit global records.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the country’s annual inflation rate has shot up by 1,000,000% and could get worse as oil production plunges to new lows.

As a result, a growing number of Venezuelans have turned to crypto as transaction records at LocalBitcoins have shown over the past several months.

Even the national government is looking to crypto, with President Maduro announcing recently that the country would begin to sell its oil in the national cryptocurrency petro.

(Source: Forbes)

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets and are very risky investments. Do your research and consult an investment professional before investing. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. Never borrow money to invest in cryptocurrencies.