Bitcoin fever reaches Honduras with first cryptocurrency ATM

Juan Mayen, 28, chief executive of Honduran firm TGU Consulting Group, and Claudia Suazo pose for a photo holding a Bitcoin logo at the office of TGU where they installed the first cryptocurrency ATM machine in the country that allows users to acquire bitcoin and ethereum using the local lempira currency, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras August 27, 2021. REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez

(Reuters) - The first cryptocurrency ATM in Honduras opened this week as bitcoin backers sought to spur demand for virtual assets after neighboring El Salvador became the first country to establish bitcoin as legal tender.

The machine, locally dubbed "la bitcoinera," allows users to acquire bitcoin and ethereum using the local lempira currency and was installed in an office tower in the capital of Tegucigalpa by Honduran firm TGU Consulting Group.