At Ethex.market, we’re not only interested in listing useful tokens but also understanding how crypto adoption is happening up on a global scale.

This is Part II of a two-part series where we try to understand the current state of crypto adoption. In this article, we primarily focus on e-commerce and brick-and-mortar businesses where you can use crypto to pay for services or physical products.

Part I of this series primarily focuses on marketplaces for virtual items like digital downloads, software services, and peer-to-peer payment technologies (i.e. crypto for payments and tips).

Places Accepting Crypto for Services or Physical Products

Overstock has historically been one of the top businesses supporting crypto payments. This site strives to provide the best online deals on everything for home decor, furniture, area rugs, mattresses, bedding, jewelry, and more. Back in November 2018, CEO Patrick Byrne had said that the company was planning to sell its retail business as soon as February 2019 to focus specifically on tZERO, a new blockchain business.

Flashforward to April 2019 and it appears that Byrne has decided to keep the Overstock retail business for now and work on the blockchain venture simultaneously. This retailer not only accepts a variety of cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, DASH, NIM, LTC, NEM, and XRM) but also has accumulated crypto holdings.

Newegg is a major player in e-commerce. Mainly specializing in electronics, this site is popular for being a go-to site for buying cryptocurrency mining hardware. Due to its popularity among cryptocurrency miners, Newegg began to accept BTC.

CryptoPet offers all sorts of pet supplies for dogs, cats, birds, fish, and small pets. Items can be shipped to the U.S. or to international locations. Accepted cryptocurrencies include BTC, DASH, DOGE, and LTC.

Accepts BTC, BCH, ETH, ETC, XRM, LTC, and DASH for honey, honey soap, beeswax lip balm, and other products. The weighted average on Kraken is the exchange rate used for non-BTC crypto payments on Bees Bros. Bitpay exchange rates are used for BTC. According to the website, only BTC and BCH are automatic payments. If customers want to use other cryptocurrencies, they must send an email first to ensure the product is available.

1000 EcoFarms is a website that maps out farm-produced food near you. Local foods, artisanal items, and natural beauty products can all be purchased on this site. By supporting small farms, 1000 EcoFarms cultivates local ecology, grows local economies, and nourishes precious ecosystems. It allows sellers to accept BTC, ETH, and other popular cryptocurrencies. It even has partnered with FoodCoin (FOOD), a blockchain project focused specifically on the food and agriculture business.

This website sells a variety of high-end electronics like universal laptop power banks, portable solar generators, and portable solar panels. Customers can pay with BTC, LTC, XVG, DGB, DOGE, SMART, NEO, XRM, SBD, VTC, UBQ, or 50+ other altcoins.

This precious metal seller offers worldwide, fast, and discrete shipping. All shipments are fully insured. Bitgild has a large selection of gold and silver assortments. Prices are always up-to-date with the latest spot price and current cryptocurrency charts. The site accepts BTC, BCH, DASH, XRP, XRM, ETH, LTC, DGB, and ZEC.

REEDS Jewelers is one of the most popular fine jewelry retailers in the US. It sells jewelry, watches, Pandora charms, and more. The company accepts BTC payments both online and at 65+ stores nationwide. At the time of purchase, the USD amounts from REEDS Jewelers are converted to BTC using the exchange rate provided by Coinbase. Customers have 15 minutes from the time of order to send the specified number of BTC.

On Cryptoart, each piece is a hand-assembled limited edition Giclée print printed with archival quality inks on heavy, 100% cellulose watercolor paper that is free of optical brighteners. Sold out editions are never reprinted. Each piece comes with a certificate of authenticity and has the unique ability to securely store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. There are three sizes for each piece, which makes it easy to find art that fits standard frames or binders.

Shopify is perhaps the globe’s most well-known e-commerce software platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. The company reported that it had more than 600,000 merchants using its platform as of August 2017, with a total gross merchandise volume exceeding $26 billion. Merchants using Shopify to create their e-commerce websites can accept cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, LTC, and 300+ altcoins. This is made possible thanks to solutions from four payment providers: Coinbase Commerce, BitPay, GoCoin, and CoinPayments Beta.

Bic Camera, the largest electronics retailer in Japan, has accepted BTC since April 2017 at two of its largest stores in central Tokyo. Later on, the company expanded this payment option to all 40 stores nationwide. During an 85 percent market correction in 2018, the retailer disclosed that the usage of BTC across its stores had increased.

Beginning on May 1, 2019, Dolder Grand will accept BTC and ETH. Guests of one of the most picturesque hotels in Switzerland can soon use their cryptocurrency to pay for their stays and amenities. The Dolder Grand is a five-star hotel and spa in Zurich with amazing, 360-degree views of the Swiss landscape. The hotel’s tech partner, Inacta AG, will begin facilitating crypto payments. Bity, a Swiss-based crypto exchange, will then convert payments to fiat currencies like EUR and CHF.

Early Adopters No Longer Accepting Crypto

An e-commerce giant available in 18 Latin American countries, MercadoLibre has been quite successful. Latest figures from 2016 show an annual revenue of $844.4 million. Previously, MercadoLibre accepted BTC as a form of payment. However, all users were given until March 19, 2019, to remove crypto-related ads and listings from the site. This decision affected thousands of vendors. For example, on the site for Brazil alone, there were over 5,630 Bitcoin-related ads and over 9,320 cryptocurrency-related listings. Allegedly, this move is the direct result of a recent investment of $750 million from PayPal.

For a limited time in 2018, KFC Canada offered “The Bitcoin Bucket”, a campaign which included a Facebook-based live-tracker of the standing price for the menu item listed in BTC. At the time, this cost around the equivalent of 20 CAD. Although not available for in-store purchases, online delivery orders used BitPay as one of the options on the online checkout page. This was more of a short-term promotion than a long-term vision to adopt crypto. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that KFC already has a technical payment solution for crypto in place that could be used again someday.

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