More countries are dipping their toes into crypto, as the technology is becoming ubiquitous in the payments arena. Peru is one of these countries, as the Peruvian Credit Bank (BCP) recently intermediated the first cryptocurrency-based payment in an internal pilot.

A bank employee used a token to pay for a coffee in the bank cafeteria. The token, named GIFT, is limited to these kinds of uses and cannot be marketed or commercialized. GIFT and the payment were issued using the Polygon network.

Commenting on the relevance of this move, Lenin Carrillo, BCP’s Blockchain and Crypto Lead, stated:

What we did on Friday is probably the first cryptocurrency payment ever made by a bank in Peru. It sets a precedent and paves the way for us to start challenging our existing service models.

The pilot was designed to avoid exposure to market volatility and adverse conditions. Instead, the institution sought to explore the friction users would experience when dealing with these technologies for the first time.

“We wanted to understand how much difficulty a person who knows nothing about cryptocurrencies, but is familiar with digital wallets, might encounter when downloading a wallet, adding a token, and using it. Everything was provided by the bank, with no financial risk to the user,” Carrillo added.

To this end, complexity was abstracted, and the payment was expedited using a QR code. Fireblocks, a company providing tools for digital assets management, dealt with the backend tasks and the internal piping to complete the operation.

Carrillo stressed that, while still unregulated, the bank is exploring real use cases for this technology. These include cross-border payments and remittances, so when regulation is issued, the bank will be ready to implement digital assets for these use cases.

Read more: Peru Issues VASP Regulation, Strengthens AML/TF Requirements

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