Digitec Galaxus AG is the biggest online retailer in Switzerland and starts to offer a payment alternative for its clients. It is now possible to pay with cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies become a bigger part of industries

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain make their way into more and more industries. Cryptos become a bigger part of our financial industry with companies such as Fidelity, JP Morgan, Bakkt among others. They will offer different crypto related products and services to their clients. In fact, many experts such as Pompliano argue that institutions will drive mass adoption to the space.

Another industry is the retail industry. We have earlier learned that many companies start to accept cryptocurrencies as payments — stories, covered by Toshi Times. One of these companies is Rakuten, the Japanese version of Amazon who stated that they might accept in the near future. A US example is Kroger Co who have over 2800 stores across the country, and they decided to stop using VISA because of excessive fees and look at other alternatives.

While retailers are one way to look at adoption, payment providers is another. Bitpay recently announced that they processed over $1 billion for the second year in a row despite falling cryptocurrency prices. They also revealed that many companies, according to their studies, have issues with SWIFT. The four main problems were visibility, certainty, cost and consistency. Blockchain challenges the old ways which have proved successful.

The biggest online retailer in Switzerland accepts cryptocurrencies

Nevertheless, a new retailer has entered the crypto space, according to a recent announcement. Digitec Galaxus AG, founded in 2000, is the leading retailer regarding IT, consumer electronics and telecommunications in the country. Today, the company has almost 1,000 employees.

Customers can now check out using Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH), Bitcoin Cash SV (BSV), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Binance Coin (BNB), Litecoin (LTC), Tron (TRX), NEO (NEO) or OmiseGO (OMG). Oliver Herren, the CIO and co-founder, is positive towards cryptos and says:

“Cryptocurrencies are fascinating and likely to become a relevant means of payment in e-commerce. We want to support this development. Of course, I am expecting all crypto millionaires in Switzerland to only buy from us in the future. There’s no lack of choice; that’s for sure.”

When customers go to the checkout, they get a rate for each crypto that is valid for the next 15 minutes to make sure that the digital assets are stable. The company do not charge any fee. However, their partner Coinify charges 1,5% of the purchase price via a conversion rate.

It is a major milestone for bitcoin’s adoption. While the largest retailer in Switzerland is the first to accept payments with cryptocurrencies, it will most likely not be the last.

Photo by Robert Stokoe from Pexels

