McDonald's Now Accepts Payments In Bitcoin, But Only In El Salvador

McDonald's can accept payments in Bitcoin. (photo: twitter)

JAKARTA - El Salvador's recognition of Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender has opened up new payment options for its citizens. It is now reported that McDonald's fast food restaurant is also accepting payments in cryptocurrency via the Lightning Network.

Journalist Aaron van Wirdum broke the news Tuesday, September 7 after he visited a McDonald's restaurant in El Salvador, where he was presented with a printed QR code that directed him to an invoice page on the Lightning Network. McDonald's had 19 locations across Latin American countries as of 2019.

“Just walked into McDonald's in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expected to be told no.

But lo and behold, they printed a ticket with a QR that took me to a webpage with a Lightning invoice, and now I'm enjoying my traditional desayuno! pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U

— Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) September 7, 2021

Just walked into a McDonald's in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no.But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I'm enjoying my desayuno traditional! pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U

— Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) September 7, 2021

Lightning is a two-layer payment protocol designed to make BTC transactions more scalable. Although Bitcoin has been successful as an investable asset, its adoption as a medium of exchange has been limited.

Bitcoin payments are at the heart of Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 whitepaper which describes BTC as electronic money.

The Lightning Network is likely to prove invaluable if El Salvador hopes to achieve mass adoption of Bitcoin payments. Beyond direct transactions, El Salvador's Bitcoin move could prove successful by streamlining global remittances, increasing the wealth of its citizens and attracting crypto-focused entrepreneurs to the country.

Bitcoin-related legislation in El Salvador officially went into effect on Tuesday, September 7, proving to be a classic “buy rumours, sell facts” event for the market. This briefly saw the price of BTC plunge 19% between Monday and Tuesday, hitting a low of 42,900 US dollars.

President Nayib Bukele confirmed on Monday, September 6 that his government had purchased its first Bitcoin. Next up is Tuesday, the country has 550 BTC in its reserves.