The crypto community has been buzzing after the news that whole foods, Nordstrom, and more stores are set to accept Bitcoin payments. Merchants will probably still get their payments in dollars, but this news of more merchant adoption is certainly quite big for Crypto enthusiasts.
Crypto-currencies have for long been struggling for air after the crypto boom of 2017 came to a crashing end in early 2018. Cryptos were not just getting hit in terms of price but also when it came to adoption. This time last year, cryptos were getting a bad rep from crypto cynics, commentators from more traditional financial backgrounds, and even social media giants. You will remember that about this time last year, social platforms like Facebook as well as search engines like Google slapped a ban on crypto advertising. Though the bans were short lived, they did strike a crushing blow to adoption at the time.
Fast forward to almost mid-2019, and we have major retailers such as Whole Foods, Barrel and Crate, as well as other physical stores, now accepting digital currencies according to Fortune. For a long time, crypto cynic’s arguments against cryptos have always revolved around their usability. This Fortune report certainly puts that issue to bed, with reports that crypto will easily be used for payments at physical stores, through a startup known as Flexa.
Flexa is a startup that was launched in partnership with the famous Winklevoss twins. Flexa will play a huge role in this new development through its Flexa payment app, known as Spedn. The app will make it easy to pay in crypto, and will also make it easy for one to convert the crypto into fiat. The stores are not obligated to receive payment in crypto, and can easily receive cryptos converted into cash.
The mechanics of how Flexa’s Spedn app works is that the app generates a QR code that can be scanned at the checkout register. The merchant will then receive immediate payment in dollars, while an equivalent amount of crypto-currency is debited from their wallets in the Spedn app. Flexa uses its own crypto-currency, the ‘Flexacoin’ to secure each transaction before its approved by the originating coin’s network. The Flexa network protocol then works as an intermediary for each transaction by paying the merchant in cash and then going through the process of taking the payment from the crypto wallet of the individual.
This move is definitely a big plus for crypto adoption with more and more users now able to buy household products using Bitcoin. Volatility though remains a key issue plaguing the industry; the Winklevoss twins have however been able to mitigate the risk through the dollar-pegged stablecoin, Gemini dollar. This development will definitely go down in history as one of the major, merchant adoption steps towards adoption of cryptos in mainstream society.
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