Bitcoin Crowdfunding Comes to South America

Idea.me, a regional crowdfunding platform in South America, has embraced bitcoin payments.

Although the platform uses a Montenegrin domain, it's an Argentinean outfit currently available in seven South American countries.

In fact, Idea.me is the only regional crowdfunding platform in South America, according to TechCrunch.

So far, the company has managed to raise $750,000 and it hopes to raise a further $2.4m in Series A funding next March. To date, the platform has funded over 450 projects using an estimated $2m.

Idea.me recently added bitcoin as an alternative to more traditional payment methods like credit cards and PayPal. Chief Operating Office Pia Giudice claimed Idea.me is currently the only crowdfunding platform in the Americas to include bitcoin support. She said:

“Our business unit is unique in the world: Idea.me is the only platform that executes campaigns with multinational companies to fund specific projects.”

To make it all happen Idea.ma uses BitPay, which allows it to convert bitcoins to dollars automatically. In other words, although the pledger pays in bitcoin, the project receiving the funding gets the contribution in dollars.

This helps protect all parties involved in the process from bitcoin volatility and wild price swings. In essence, bitcoin is used as a money transfer vehicle in this process.

According to the Idea.me blog, the company's decision to embrace the virtual currency was a direct result of bitcoin’s recent surge in popularity.

Idea.me hopes its bitcoin support will allow more backers to join the platform as bitcoin payments are available for all projects listed on the platform.

It is worth pointing out that major crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter do not support bitcoin donations at this time.

However, they do support various bitcoin-related projects, such as Nio Card, a bitcoin payment card, open-source ASIC mining rigs and various bitcoin related start-ups.

Crowd Image via Shutterstock