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Online crypto-only retailer Crypto Emporium has begun accepting Dash for payments.

#DASH is supported on https://t.co/1CqVZUDfTY. We're proud to announce that $DASH has been integrated onto the Crypto Emporium platform with immediate effect. @Dashpay is a project that we fully believe in long-term and we can't wait to serve their brilliant community. pic.twitter.com/St9HGbPHj9 — Crypto Emporium (@CryptoEmporium_) February 11, 2019

Founded early 2018, Crypto Emporium is an online retailer providing a wide variety of products, formerly focusing on luxury items, exclusively accepting cryptocurrencies for payments. Following a large amount of feedback from fans, Crypto Emporium decided to add Dash to the available lineup of payment options. According to founder Stephen Travers, the energy from the Dash community was more than expected:

“Honestly we were quite taken aback by the response from the Dash community. After receiving a number of emails asking us to accept Dash on Crypto Emporium and conducting our own research, we put the question to the community on Twitter. What a brilliantly motivated, helpful, considerate and knowledgeable community Dash possesses. We’ve always felt the relationship between a project and their investors/holders says a lot about that project in general. It’s something we’ve always been incredibly mindful of in the past and have managed to build great relationships with many of the cryptocurrencies that we support. We look forward to building this relationship with Dash and serving their community with distinction.”

Crypto Emporium offers a wide range of products from electronics to more high-end items such as automobiles, motorbikes, and even property.

Cryptocurrency circumvents high fees and cross-border payment challenges

According to Travers, exclusively accepting cryptocurrencies has allowed Crypto Emporium to avoid the high fees associated with fiat currency payment systems, particularly those associated with accepting and converting the wide range of currencies from its international customer base:

“Accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment offers us an incredible number of benefits compared to traditional methods. Cryptocurrency allows us to operate on a truly global scale by avoiding expensive foreign transaction fees or exchange rates. Since our launch in just February of last year, we’ve processed orders from over 20+ different countries, this is a luxury afforded to us only by using international digital assets. Another huge benefit is how we’re often able to save money by eliminating many fees associated with e-commerce and selling over the internet. We know that we’re buying into an eventual business practice, the benefits are numerous and we’re only just at the beginning.”

Travers has seen demand for a wide variety of products, though no property sales for crypto have yet taken place, likely due to market conditions:

“We’ve sold a huge variety of different products on CryptoEmporium.eu since our launch. We’ve sold a number of watches over the previous 12 months, and coming from a background in dealing and trading watches, that’s filled me with great excitement. We’ve sold a number of electronics; mobile phones, mining equipment and drones. We’ve also sold a good amount of cryptocurrency merchandise, something that we’re really looking to expand in the coming months. So far we’ve had a lot of interest from people to sell their properties, however we haven’t had a buyer yet. We expect during the next bull-run, we will see this change. Interestingly, our first ever official sale came on the day of launch and it was for a brand new Yamaha Motorbike, that’s still one that is very close to my heart as it started everything.”

The bear market’s effects on the “lambo” culture and luxury demand

The cryptocurrency bear market of the past year has seen significant valuation drops across the board, with some currencies falling by as much as 95% from peak valuations. This has presented some unique challenges to crypto-only businesses, according to Travers, particularly since Crypto Emporium initially focused on luxury goods:

“Like with many projects around us, I couldn’t sit here and tell you the bear market has been perfect. However, we’ve really managed to take the positives from such a difficult environment, and we’re managing to use the time well to create new connections and improve our services for our clients/suppliers. We believe this to be short-term shakeout and that patient hands will be rewarded in the near-future.”

To adapt, Crypto Emporium has expanded its offerings to include more than just luxury items, with the goal of aiding mass adoption and competing with traditional retailers, many of which do not experience the cost-saving benefits of exclusively using cryptocurrencies for payments: