The largest US retailers including Amazon will be able to accept payments in cryptocurrency

American cryptobirge Gemini has announced a partnership with payment startup Flexa. Gemini co-founder and early crypto investor Tyler Winkloss claims that thanks to this collaboration, the following American retailers will accept cryptocurrency payments: Barnes & Noble, Baskin Robbins, GameStop, Jamba Juice, Lowe's, Nordstrom, Office Depot & OfficeMax, Petco, Reg. Cinemas, Whole Foods Market and Amazon. Let us see why this step has become an important stage in the growing crypto-industry.

In mid-May, Tyler Winkloss wrote in his blog for Medium that the old slogan “ HODL ” should be replaced by the new call for “SPEDN” for the crypto community, so that users spend their cryptocurrencies and pay for their purchases, in other words, they use their crypto assets by appointment, and not just kept them in their wallets.

SPEDN is not only a new slogan of a crypto community, but also the name of a mobile application for iOS, a joint project of Gemini and Flexa, with which it will be possible to pay for goods of American retailers. For SPEDN users, payment in cryptocurrency will be available:

• Bitcoin (BTC),
• Ethereum (ETH),
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH),
• Gemini Dollar (GUSD – Gemini Steamblecoin).

The use of a new payment solution was the result of an agreement between Flexa and retailers, in which they integrated their merchants with SPEDN. Payment for purchases is carried out using a mobile application: the user brings the phone to the scanner for the transaction. In this case, all the cryptocurrencies that the user manages in the SPEDN mobile application are stored on the Gemini exchange, which provides additional security when using the new payment solution.

Speaking about the benefits of partnership with Flexa, Tyler Winklevoss noted that Gemini seeks to build a bridge between the world of cryptocurrency and traditional finance, and Flexa is working on creating such crypto solutions in the area of settlements with retailers.

The main advantages of Flexa solutions Winkloss sees that for their integration it is not necessary to buy new payment equipment, and merchants can choose calculation methods in Fiat or in cryptocurrency. Thus, the integration of the infrastructure of Flexa and Gemini helps to simplify payments for both merchants and SPEDN users.

What is happening in the market of cryptocurrency payments?

There are several dozens of startups on the cryptocurrency payments market, which indicates the demand for this sphere. At the end of 2018, the Reuters publication wrote about 17 payment crypto startups that work in the payment market, and the largest of them – BitPay.

The niche currently most filled in is payments for Internet commerce, since setting up the reception of cryptocurrencies to pay online is much easier than offline. Another popular branch of the cryptocurrency payments market is the issuance of cryptocurrency debit cards. They are tied to a cryptocurrency wallet and, when paying for goods and services, convert cryptocurrencies into Fiat. They let companies like TenX, Crypto, Tokencard, Ubiq Coin , CryptoPay, Bonpay, Paycent, Wirex.

Other startups are also working on the implementation of cryptocurrency payments offline. So, in early April, Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital invested $ 15 million and $ 10 million respectively in a payment startup Celo.

The Celo protocol allows you to send cryptocurrencies using only the user's phone number. Also, the company has already conducted tests of a mobile application that will help users to receive and receive crypto payments. To implement the project will also be released own steyblkoin Celo Dollar, provided by the US dollar.

Payment solutions for payment in 35 stores at a music festival in Taiwan offered a start-up PundiX. Different types of goods were available for purchase, including food and clothing.

Recently, Moon startup has implemented the Lightning Network protocol when calculating Bitcoins. Moon provides its customers with the opportunity to make purchases on the Amazon website using the Coinbase account linked to the application. A payment startup Zeux provides its users with the ability to pay for cryptocurrency products from European retailers using the payment systems Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Zeux recently added this feature to IOTA and VeChain network tokens.

Prospects for the development of cryptocurrency payments

The agreement of large American retailers to accept cryptocurrency payments has already become a landmark event for the industry. The example of SPEDN shows that despite all the legal and technical difficulties, the introduction of cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services in US stores and restaurants is becoming a reality.

You can be sure that after a successful example in the USA, payment start-ups will be able to introduce this method of payment to large retailers in other countries of the world. SPEDN, as one of the pioneers, can rightfully take its place in the market. Ultimately, this may lead to the fact that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be massively used as a means of payment throughout the world.

Publication date 29.05.2019
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