Crypto Coffee Coin Is Coming to Brazil's Countryside Farmers

(Bloomberg) -- Coffee farmers in Brazil’s countryside could be soon be using cryptocurrency for their day-to-day needs.

A major arabica-bean cooperative, Minasul, is planning to this month launch a blockchain-based digital coin that will be backed by coffee supplies. Farmer members will be able to use the “coffeecoin” to buy fertilizer, machinery and other non-farm products, including cars and food, Jose Marcos Magalhaes, Minasul’s president, said in an interview during the Global Coffee Forum in Campinas, Sao Paulo state.

Exchanging the coins for goods will take place in a digital marketplace, backed by Minasul’s store of crop nutrients, machinery and other products, he said.

Farmer members will be able to acquire the currency against current and future coffee production, Magalhaes said. As much as 30% of the current harvest is eligible for exchange, 20% of the next crop, and 10% for the season after that. Allowing this type of digital financing will reduce costs for the cooperative and growers because it won’t require registration though a notary’s office, he said.

The coffeecoin comes as the cooperative takes on a larger digitalization project, including allowing farmers to sell beans in mobile phone transactions.

Minasul, based in the state of Minas Gerais, is one of the nation’s largest arabica-coffee cooperatives. Brazil is the the world’s biggest coffee grower and exporter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fabiana Batista in Sao Paulo at fbatista6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Millie Munshi, Joe Richter

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