Key facts:
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In 10 days the company will have its first prototype completely built in Salvadoran territory.
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The company already operates with a team of 175 people and they estimate that they will soon hire locals.
The manufacturer of bitcoin atms, ChainBytes, reported on Wednesday, June 30 that it moved its main production center to El Salvador. In 10 days, the company will have ready the first prototype completely elaborated in Salvadoran land and, from there, its efforts will focus on achieve a productivity of 50 teams per day or 1,500 per month.
“In the short term, the bitcoin ATM factory in El Salvador will not only have the capacity to respond to the needs of the national market, but will also be able to meet demand throughout Latin America and even the United States.” This was pointed out by Eric Grill, CEO of ChainBytes in exclusive conversation with CriptoNoticias.
So far the company has a team of about 175 people in El Salvador,” but that number will increase as ATM production and demand grow, ” Grill said.
He added that, since 2012, the company has been manufacturing and providing maintenance services for operators and companies focused on the bitcoin ATM business. ChainBytes is headquartered in Pennsylvania, USA. In addition, the company owned a production center in China that it had to dismantle recently due to the crackdown on cryptocurrencies in that country. Now, the company has moved its entire production center to El Salvador.
“This is a private initiative to build bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador. The Government has provided a legal framework that offers incentives [no habrá impuesto sobre las ganancias de capital en bitcoin], something our factory can take advantage of. But, for the moment, our focus is on building new machines versus taking advantage of any incentives.”
Eric Grill, CEO of ChainBytes
The company’s initiative was applauded by Mónica Taher, in charge of International Technological and Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce of El Salvador. After the meeting held with part of the team, the official highlighted the interest of the manufacturer to establish in the Central American country, which is “providing investment and generating more jobs”, as it recently noted on Twitter. And despite the short time ChainBytes has in El Salvador, they are already looking for support operators, so it could be expected that in the future new job opportunities will arise.
Grill added that, so far, he has held meetings with about 10 bitcoin ATM operators, who are interested in installing new equipment in different parts of the country.
El Salvador would compete with Canada if it installs 1,500 bitcoin ATMs
As CriptoNoticias reported a few days ago, El Salvador plans to become the second country with the most bitcoin ATMs in the world, as the plan of the Government of Nayib Bukele is to install at least 1,500 computers throughout its territory. The initial plan of the ATM operator, Athena Bitcoin, is to place a device in each of the 14 departments of El Salvador for which he estimates to invest more than 1 million dollars.
To achieve it, El Salvador would be competing with Canada which currently has 1,379 ATM. It is only surpassed by the United States, where there are more than 16,000 devices. But to implement the Bitcoin Law, the nation will also have to overcome technological barriers that can stand in the generalization of the use and adoption of the crypto asset as a currency of legal use by Salvadorans.