Bitcoin Makes Its Way To Social Media

Argentina's answer to Facebook, Taringa, is

into its service as an incentive program for content creators, marking the digital currency's first major foray into the South American market. Bitcoin supporters say the social media site's adoption of cryptocurrency could be a major step forward for bitcoin adoption around the world.

Taringa is a free social media website based in Argentina that allows its users to create and share information from countries all over the world. In an effort to provide content creators with some incentives, the company has partnered with bitcoin wallet Xapo in order to offer bitcoin "tips" for new content.

According to Taringa's co-founder Hernan Botbol, the partnership with Xapo was strategic in that the wallet service is already established in the South American market. As Xapo's management is largely controlled by Latin American entrepreneurs, Botbol believes the company will be in a better position to serve Taringa's users.

Bitcoin enthusiasts say this partnership could be a huge step forward for the cryptocurrency as it will introduce bitcoin to a relatively large population on unbanked South Americans. Bitcoin has been touted as a plausible solution for sending and receiving money in parts of the world where access to banking services is limited. For that reason, the introduction of bitcoin payments on South American social media could propel the currency into more frequent use.