A YouTuber began a journey in September to see whether or not he might survive solely on Bitcoin as a way of fee whereas touring to 40 totally different international locations.

Chatting with Cointelegraph on Monday, YouTuber Paco De La India — or “Paco from India” — mentioned although the unfold of omicron had considerably altered his authentic journey plans, he was nonetheless stunned at how many individuals had accepted Bitcoin (BTC) in international locations the place crypto was in a authorized or regulatory gray space. Starting his journey within the Indian metropolis of Bengaluru, Paco offered his belongings in September 2021 and largely relied on BTC donations to fund his journey — which, thus far, has taken him throughout India, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Cambodia.

The YouTuber, who mentioned he most popular to make use of non-custodial wallets and Lightning for BTC transactions, initially deliberate to go to 40 international locations for 10 days every, however COVID restrictions had considerably altered his itinerary. Paco is working round obligatory quarantines, the necessities of many international locations that vacationers keep inside their borders for at the very least 14 days, and the extra prices for polymerase chain response, or PCR, exams.

In response to Paco, two individuals conducting his COVID take a look at in India for journey to the UAE accepted BTC in lieu of fiat rupees with out hesitation. As well as, he was capable of negotiate with take a look at takers in Thailand for a PCR take a look at to journey to Cambodia. The YouTuber attributed a part of the explanation behind the acceptance of crypto funds to officers extra involved with verifying vaccine certificates than COVID exams.

“On the finish of the day, it’s a bit of paper,” mentioned Paco. “It’s only a piece of paper [for] which [there] isn’t any method attainable to confirm. The one factor that they’re checking proper now’s the vaccine, due to the QR code.”

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Although many international locations have introduced plans to confirm the authenticity of COVID-19 take a look at outcomes utilizing blockchain know-how, there doesn’t appear to be a global normal for immigration officers to acknowledge exams carried out in international nations. For instance, vacationers flying to the US are required to finish a fast COVID take a look at inside 24 hours of arrival, however not all well being passport apps really useful by U.S. airways can acknowledge theQR codes offered by international testing facilities.

Along with COVID exams, Paco mentioned he had been capable of survive on Bitcoin as a way of fee usually by sheer probability, by no means forcing crypto on an unsuspecting celebration and stunned at what number of random distributors have been open to it. In response to the YouTuber, he had been pressured to keep away from most public transportation in these 4 international locations and use his debit card to gasoline his bike, however was connecting with extra individuals on the bottom.

“Thailand is tremendous crypto-friendly,” mentioned Paco. “Cambodia is one other [super friendly] place. UAE, it appears to be like like that however I really feel it’s simply between the richest individuals.”

He added:

“I’ve modified my strategy quite a bit. I’ve gone extra from speaking to the previous individuals who have already lived their life to discovering younger people who find themselves actually tech-savvy […] They’re actually interested in [Bitcoin]. It’s all the time: They wish to earn money. Everybody simply appears to be like at Bitcoin as being profitable.”