Life of Colombian Beetles: Chew garbage and leave behind fertilizers

A Colombian company that exports long-horned beetles as pets for children in Japan, and whose similarity to the helmets of the legendary Samurai is obvious, has expanded its offer to include its own cryptocurrency, in an attempt to avoid pay high commissions on your international sales.

Tierra Viva, located in the city of Tunja, in central Colombia, in addition to exporting the Dynastes Hercules, Dynastes Neptunus and Megasoma Elephas species, which can fetch up to $300 a pair in Tokyo stores, also created the Kmushicoin.

"In a few words, it is an alternative to be able to export the beetles to Japan or to any part of the world and to be able to use it as a method of payment, " Carmelo Campos, main programmer and partner of Tierra Viva, told Reuters.

The high commission costs of international payments among its clients in Japan -which averaged 10% of the total price of exports- led Tierra Viva to create Kmushicoin, whose name arose from the word Kabutomushi, which means horned beetle.

The particular scene occurs frequently in the rural area of ​​Tunja, a city 150 kilometres northeast of Bogotá, where the company Tierra Viva is located, which markets beetle products through its own cryptocurrency.

The high commission costs of international payments among its clients in Japan -which averaged 10% of the total price of exports- led Tierra Viva to create Kmushicoin, whose name arose from the word Kabutomushi, which means horned beetle in Japanese.

Campos explained that the digital currency is backed by Tierra Viva, which for each sale of its products uses a percentage to repurchase Kmushicoin, which gives it a price.

According to Campos, cryptocurrency has been traded between people from around 60 countries, while in Tunja it is received in some 220 businesses, including restaurants, cafeterias, hardware stores and clothing stores and the company's plan is to expand its use.

"Our goal would be to be able to use it as a payment method nationwide and there are even people who have contacted us from electricity service companies who would like to be able to pay for their electricity service with Kmushicoin," he said, without providing names.

The striking beetles, in their initial stage as larvae, feed on organic waste such as vegetable and fruit scraps, which you turn into an effective fertilizer that Tierra Viva also sells.

"In total, in all stages of metamorphosis we can have more than 50,000 beetles doing their part of the operation in our process," explained Germán Viasus, creator of Tierra Viva, while two of his pets climbed up his shirt.

The beetles, which can grow to the size of an adult hand and live up to 17 months, are mainly exported to the Land of the Rising Sun, where they are prized by children who have a long tradition of keeping them as prized pets or as decorative figures and charms for good luck.

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