Venezuela: Church’s Chicken Accepts Crypto Payments after KFC Denies Rumors

[Leonardo]

Church’s Chicken, an international fast-food franchise known its hand-battered fried chicken, has reportedly partnered with Dash Venezuela to become the first fast-food franchise to accept cryptocurrencies throughout its locations in Venezuela.

According to a press release, a strategic alliance between Dash Venezuela and Church’s Chicken Venezuela will see 13 establishments start accepting the privacy-centric cryptocurrency as payment, after “extensive and rigorous days of training” to understand cryptocurrencies.

Church’s Chicken is the fourth largest chicken fast-food fain in the world, as it has 1,700 restaurants spread throughout 25 countries. Per the release, the franchise’s representatives in the country are looking to promote the cryptocurrency as part of the move. The press release reads:

“Representatives of the franchise, indicated that soon will develop a series of promotions to encourage the use of Dash in their establishments, which are added to the more than 2,200 establishments in Venezuela that have this fast and easy mode of transactions.”

Orlando Nayas, the director general of Church’s Chicken Venezuela, noted that he worked hard with the cryptocurrency advocacy group to train the franchise’s staff to accept crypto payments. He added the move “goes to show that we trust Dash and that it will become a growth agent in this new financial world.”

Bradley Zastrow, the global director of business development ad Dash Core, commented the community did an “incredible job” encouraging the cryptocurrency’s growth in Venezuela and that the Church’s Chicken integration is “exciting.”

KFC Venezuela Denies Report it Accepts Dash
The announcement notably comes shortly after Antonio Sampaya, the CEO of KFC Venezuela, revealed the fast-food chain isn’t accepting Dash payments in the near future, directly denying claims made by Dash proponents that it would.

Sampayo, speaking to Spanish news outlet Critponotícias, revealed that testing crypto payments was indeed being discussed, but that nothing had been finalized. He added publications about a potential partnership weren’t authorized.

Dash Merchant Venezuela, an organization promoting the crypto’s adoption in the country, later on tweeted out a public apology to KFC Venezuela.

https://twitter.com/dashmerchant/status/1072327440503062528

Per the tweet, the announcement “was premature and reflected our optimism instead of the actual state of our conversation with KFC Venezuela.” Talks between the cryptocurrency’s representatives in the country and KFC Venezuela are reportedly still ongoing. CCN reached out to Sampayo for comment but hadn’t heard back at press time.

As CCN reported, Alejandro Echeverria, the co-founder of Dash Merchant Venezuela and Dash Text – an SMS-based cryptocurrency transaction service that doesn’t require a smartphone or internet – hopes Dash will have 10,000 merchants accepting it next year.

In Venezuela, fast-food chains that have accepted Dash at least one location include Subway and the Papa John’s pizza chain.

Source: https://www.ccn.com/venezuela-churchs-chicken-accepts-crypto-payments-after-kfc-denies-rumors/