The world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) conference, Bitcoin 2023, held in Miami, Florida, took place without much fanfare this year. Previous conferences have announced nation-state adoption, mass integration of cryptocurrencies in the United States, and islands and territories around the world adopting Bitcoin.

Nevertheless, at Bitcoin 2023, one partnership with a potentially significant impact on the world’s 15th largest economy went unnoticed.

We are content to announce our collaboration with Grupo Salinas. I look forward to the positive impact of this collaboration.⚡️ #Bitcoin #bitcoiconference2023 https://t.co/rkAjWnmKsK pic.twitter.com/yWIWc6751B— IBEX ⚡️ (@PoweredbyIBEX) May 18, 2023

José Lemus, CEO of Ibex Mercado, closed the Bitcoin Industry Day 2023. He announced a partnership with Grupo Salinas, one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Mexico. In tiny, the collaboration would enable millions of Mexicans to pay their internet bills with popular telecommunications company Total Play using the Bitcoin Lightning network.

Most importantly, the Salinas Group owns dozens of companies throughout Mexico. Its billionaire founder, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, is the third richest person in the country and a known Bitcoin maximalist.

Not only has the Bitcoin Lightning payment integration already brought Bitcoin adoption to millions of Mexicans, but as Lemus explained to Cointelegraph, Total Play is one tiny retailer that is part of the massive Salinas conglomerate:

“Imagine if Best Buy, Bank of America, Fox News and an NFL team were owned by the same person. In the future, all of them would have Lightning capabilities.”

Lemus explained that this is just the “tip of the iceberg of what will happen in Mexico” as more Bitcoin and Lightning integrations and on- and off-ramps attract more Bitcoin business. Speaking via video link, Lemus explained that fiat and Bitcoin can interact more freely in Mexico:

“Let’s say you have a wallet and you want to share Mexican pesos in Mexico, or you have a currency exchange and you want to settle balances for your customers in Mexico. You can do this through CoinPro or Grupo Salinas.”

This partnership marks the beginning of Lightning functionality across Grupo Salinas. There will be a Lightning app “for employees, a super app for football teams to do something similar to what we have with Perth Heat, where we drive fan engagement in an innovative way.”

Australia’s Perth Heat baseball team has adopted the Bitcoin standard in 2021, with players earning in Bitcoin and “Sats4Stats”, in which players receive Bitcoin for hitting home runs. Additionally, fan engagement activities leverage the Lightning Network. During baseball games, for example, “When a player steals a base, a QR code flashes on the screen and the first people to scan it get a satoshi,” Lemus explained.

Players can send satoshi directly to players during Perth Heat baseball games. Source: PerthHeat.com.au

In its first year of operation, Perth Heat players earned an extra 1% thanks to Bitcoin, Lemus said on stage at Bitcoin 2023. “It’s still early” for such technology, but the extra 1% is already encouraging.

Grupo Salinas owns the Mexican soccer clubs Mazatlán and Club Puebla. Fans will soon be able to receive free money – in the form of Bitcoin or satoshi – by simply scanning a QR code on the stadium screen when a player scores a goal, just like in the case of Perth Heat.

A snapshot of some of Grupo Salinas’ brands spanning retail, banking, sports and advertising. Source: GrupoSalinas.com

Ibex Mercado understands the enormous financial inclusion opportunities that the Lightning Network offers. Lemus founded Ibex in neighboring Guatemala, and two years earlier, the company provided Lightning Network integration for Chivo’s wallet in El Salvador, which successfully provided banking to millions of El Salvadorans.

Lemus explained that broader adoption of Bitcoin could improve the lives of unbanked and underserved populations. Moreover, financial inclusion goes beyond banking the unbanked:

“It’s the ability to raise funds for your company. It’s the ability to open yourself to a broader market. And that’s what true financial inclusion means to me.”

Finally, Lemus emphasized Mexico’s potential as a Bitcoin destination: “I think Mexico will be the place where this develops.” More broadly, 2022 was a promising year for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption in the country, from cryptocurrency remittance companies founded in Mexico to the expansion of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Related: Bitcoin adoption by Guatemalan sellers is increasing the number of BTC tattoos at once

Does this mean that cryptocurrency enthusiasts will soon be able to live off Bitcoin like in El Salvador? Lemus replied:

“Let’s say you spend most of your life in Bitcoin. I think 18 months is a reasonable goal in which you could spend most of your life. But obviously things like taxes and maybe rent won’t work on Bitcoin yet.”

Likewise, the partnership with Grupo Salinas required 18 months of work and preparation, Lemus said. In Mexico, there are more partnerships and projects on the horizon, although it is too early to share details, Lemus concluded.

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