Bitcoin Daily: El Salvador’s Bancoagricola Now Takes Crypto for Loan, Credit Card Payments; Miami’s SCOPE Art Show Sells Tickets as NFTs

Bancoagrícola, the largest El Salvadorean bank, is accepting bitcoin for loans and credit card payments, The Block reported.

Customers can also use cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services connected to the bank’s payments gateway. This will be handled through New York-based Flexa, a payments network, which will allow bitcoin payments via mobile, according to the report.

A Flexa press release stated customers can “pay bitcoin for U.S. dollar–based loans and credit card payments at the exact fair market rate, without any additional fee or spread.”

In other news, YellowHeart, a blockchain-based live ticketing program, has teamed up with Miami’s SCOPE Art Show to sell VIP tickets in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), CoinDesk reported.

“This unique set of minted tickets will feature exclusive editioned artwork by emerging and celebrated artists,” SCOPE Founder Alexis Hubshman said, according to the report.

SCOPE claims to be the first art show to offer tickets in NFT form, the report stated.

YellowHeart is built on the Polygon blockchain. It is working to change how tickets are sold, making a more transparent sale experience. CEO Josh Katz said the company is dealing with “a centralized, manipulated marketplace.” He said tickets could be purchased via crypto or credit cards, although he assumed sales are “mostly in crypto,” per the report.

Meanwhile, Pledge, a decentralized lending protocol, has gotten $3 million in investments for its cross-chain ecosystem working on long-term financing, Cointelegraph reported.

Pledge uses Binance Smart Chain and works to boost long-term financing for crypto holders, according to the report. This allows users to diversify their portfolios with non-crypto assets and avoid exposure to interest rate volatility.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) markets have been seeing more popularity this year, with new users drawn in by the promise of higher yields and more access to new markets, the report stated.