Tacos for Crypto: A Taquería in South El Monte Is Now Accepting Bitcoin for Carnitas

[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]acos for Bitcoin, what a time to be alive in L.A.’s Taco Life. 

Taquería Periban opened its location in 1996. Is family-owned and operated and a bonafide hidden gem located in an industrial section of South El Monte, just east of Rosemead Boulevard. As you pull up to order and check out their whiteboard with the menu, you’ll see it, next to the Plato de Asada and Sope menu items: “Bitcoin Accepted.”

Periban posted they were accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment recently on Instagram. The youngest member of the taquero family, Anthony (preferred to only use his first name), is the one that is pushing for their establishment to start looking into Bitcoin. He tells L.A. TACO that he has been interested in cryptocurrency since 2016. At the time, he was too young to purchase any. "I tried to convince my parents to buy Bitcoin early on but they thought it was a scam," Alex jokingly tells L.A. TACO. In 2016, one Bitcoin hovered around being worth $800. Currently, as of the publishing of this story, one Bitcoin is worth $33,228.30. 

L.A.TACO attempted to make a transaction using crypto but going through some of the scenarios with Anthony, we were unable to make the purchase happen. With conflicting information online and it being such a new way to pay or trade for goods, we gave up after about 20 mins of hitting walls of exchange between person to person. We ended up paying in cash. 

Besides a happy belly full of Periban’s carnitas, the big takeaway was the sneak peek into the future of L.A.'s Taco Life. Seeing how the transaction was still not as easy as using an app like Venmo or Zelle, it is only a matter of time until an application facilitates the transfer of cryptocurrency for everyday goods—tacos included. 

L.A. TACO will continue scouring the streets of Los Angeles for the next taquería offering crypto for tacos. 

2129 Chico Ave, South El Monte, CA 91733