For many years, crypto enthusiasts and financial experts alike have been advocating that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will only reach mainstream appeal when people are able to use them in daily life using Crypto payment solutions. Now, with more and more online and brick-and-mortar-stores accepting Bitcoin and Crypto payment solutions, it seems that this scenario is closer to coming true.
Cryptocurrency awareness is higher than ever before, and not just among tech-savvy traders. Regular individuals are beginning to delve into the crypto sphere and, with companies like Facebook and Walmart announcing their own cryptocurrencies, the role of crypto in retail could increase.
A few months ago, Starbucks disappointed crypto fans after announcing that they would not accept direct cryptocurrency payments, but it seems that the world’s largest coffee chain didn’t turn them down completely. In October, Starbucks announced that they will be working with Bitcoin futures exchange Bakkt and become the first launch partner of their crypto payment service.
It was a wise move from Bakkt, whose recent monthly bitcoin futures hit a record $15M. By partnering with Starbucks, which has more than 30,000 coffee shops all over the world and is increasingly popular among Millennial consumers – the same group that shows a high interest in crypto payments.
To streamline crypto payments, Bakkt focused on transaction processing speed in particular, a problem area where crypto has lost in favor of faster services such as Visa and Mastercard. According to a Bakkt statement, they expect to finish testing the consumer app and merchant portal in the first half of 2020, which is when Starbucks should start accepting bitcoin payments.
Although Starbucks won’t be accepting these payments directly, this is a big move for the industry. Considering Starbucks’ influence and appeal, more companies could soon follow in their footsteps and allow more payment flexibility to their customers.
Although Europe doesn’t have the same appetite for crypto as the United States, things are slowly beginning to change. You can trade various cryptocurrencies here, and Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, and Romania are quickly gaining momentum. One interesting innovation comes from GoCrypto, a crypto payment infrastructure provider that is already present in 500 stores in Slovenia and Croatia and that plans to expand in Switzerland, the UK, Turkey, Serbia, and Bulgaria, where they hope to attract four million potential customers. GoCrypto collaborates with both online and brick-and-mortar stores and, like Bakkt, they say that payments will be processed instantly. Additional merchant benefits include low transaction fees, the ability to convert crypto immediately into local currency after the payment has been made, and seamless implementation that requires no staff training. Based on Eligma’s Elipay, GoCrypto currently only accepts payments from the Elipay wallet and Bitcoin.com wallet, but more crypto wallets will be accepted soon.
If developing the payment infrastructure to accept crypto is more complicated and it will probably take a few more years until we can use our bitcoin wallet the way we use our cards, online crypto transactions are becoming more and more popular. With reliable organizations such as Wikipedia and Microsoft accepting bitcoin, retailers are joining the game and discover what crypto can do for their business.
Crypto has long passed the stage where it was just a trend. With more and more trusted retailers and organizations becoming drivers of adoption, either directly or through a third-party service, widespread crypto commerce could start moving fast.
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