Digital asset payment platform Crypto.com has just demonstrated a crypto payments processing system that it intends to launch in more than 100,000 locations this year. The system, known as Crypto.com Pay, will allow users to pay in more than 25 different digital assets including Bitcoin and Ether.
Since neither the merchant or customer pay any fees, there is hope that the increased acceptance will allow more people to use digital assets as bone fide currencies. Currently, the lion’s share of crypto usage is as a vehicle for speculation.
Crypto.com to Bring Digital Currency Payments to 100,000 More Locations
Already, 2019 is shaping up to be a great year for crypto acceptance stories. Earlier this year, the space was amazed by the announcement that Whole Foods, a firm owned by online retail giants Amazon, would be accepting digital currency payments through a third-party application. Other recent examples of large retailers opening up to Bitcoin include Digitec Galaxus and Avnet.
Helping to further advance the cause of crypto acceptance around the world is a startup valued at over $500 million, Crypto.com. The firm has recently been building out an instant crypto payments platform that takes advantage of existing payment rails and just showcased its successful demonstration.
One of the exciting things about the announcement that Crypto.com made earlier to via its blog is the scale of the firm’s plans. It will reportedly be launching in more than 100,000 locations and supporting more than 25 digital assets. These include Bitcoin, Ether, Binance Coin, the firm’s own token (MCO), and others.
In the blog post, the firm included the following video of a demonstration of a Starbucks customer using the Crypto.com Pay service to buy goods from the retail giant.
As you can see, the Crypto.com Pay application sends payment to the retailer in just seconds using the merchant’s existing hardware. By piggybacking on existing payment rails, the firm is much better positioned to advance the cause of crypto adoption than if it were to require specialist hardware be installed by the retailer.
There is hope from some that such stories of increased crypto asset acceptance will result in greater numbers using it as a currency proper. Earlier this month, many big news publications used research conducted by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis to ridicule Bitcoin, the largest crypto asset by market capitalisation, on the grounds that hardly anyone is using it for payments. The study concluded that just 1.3 percent of all Bitcoin transactions are used to pay for products or services and that the primary use case of the cryptocurrency remains speculation.
However, for other commentators, there is nothing wrong with more people people hoarding crypto assets than spending them. Price is still too volatile to use the asset as a medium of exchange for most people. The only way this can change is for the market capitalisation to grow significantly (in the hundred of billions of dollars). Eventually, the market would be so large than even billions of dollars entering or exiting would make little difference to the price and thus more people will want to use Bitcoin to buy things since there is little chance that the item bought would have cost 10 or 20 percent more or less just hours or days later.
Related Reading: Global Bitcoin Acceptance Up More than 702% Since 2013
Featured Image from Shutterstock.