Tauros, IBEX Mercado Partner For Mexico’s First Lightning-Enabled Bitcoin Exchange

IBEX Mercado has partnered with Mexican bitcoin-exchange Tauros for the first Lightning-enabled exchange in Mexico.

• Tauros has become the first Lightning-enabled bitcoin exchange in Mexico.
• The Lightning Network functionality was achieved through a partnership with IBEX Mercado, a Lightning infrastructure company.
• Tauros users will be able to interact with Lightning-enabled POS systems directly from their wallets with almost instant settlement and low fees.

Tauros has become the first Lightning-enabled bitcoin exchange in Mexico thanks to a new partnership with IBEX Mercado, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.

“Lightning is leading the most radical financial empowerment in history and will set a new standard for the rest of the networks in the market. Bitcoin is the king of digital transactions, but without Lightning it’s stuck in the financial slow lane,” said Salvador Melendez, CEO of Tauros.

Users of Tauros will be able to send bitcoin over the Lightning network almost instantaneously with almost non-existent fees thanks to the low-cost nature of the Lightning Network. Through IBEXHub, IBEX’s Lightning-as-a-Service technology, anyone using Tauros will also be able to deposit or withdraw funds almost immediately.

Customers of Tauros interacting with a Lightning-enabled point of sale (POS) will be able to make purchases directly from their Tauros wallet in their local currency. Lightning allows businesses to accept these transactions and choose whether or not they wish to receive bitcoin or fiat currency, a feature brought to the world stage at Bitcoin 2022 when the CEO of Strike, a Lightning infrastructure company, announced the functionality.

“If 2021 was the year that Lightning burst into the Bitcoin ecosystem, 2022 will be remembered as the year Bitcoin truly became transactional and started transforming people’s financial lives,” said Mario Aguiluz, VP of Latin America (LATAM) at Ibex Mercado. “Pioneering exchanges like Tauros are delivering the future of bitcoin, today - and that’s sending shockwaves through the financial ecosystem.”

Mexico is rapidly entering the bitcoin space but historically has been held back from full-adoption due to fees and delivery time, according to the press release. This has largely left Bitcoiners in Mexico relying on the store-of-value use case, rather than using it as a viable form of currency. The partnership between IBEX and Tauros looks to change that.

“By harnessing Lightning to make Bitcoin transactions simple, seamless, affordable and inclusive, exchanges like Tauros are showing the way for banks and other financial institutions, who now can provide services to the four billion un- and under-banked people in the world,” Aguiluz continued. “As we saw at Bitcoin 2022, banks and other financial service providers are incredibly excited about the potential of Lightning.”