New York-based payment startup Flexa has partnered with some of the internationally recognized retail brands including Barnes and Noble, Baskin Robins and Amazon’s Whole Foods Market to let consumers pay in cryptocurrencies. This according to a report published on CNET, May 13, 2019.
Cakes, Coffee, Grocery, and More for Bitcoin
Bitcoin was invented to lessen users’ reliance on centralized banks for making transactions. Somewhere midway, however, that notion petered away and Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies today are majorly used as an investment asset. From time to time, there is some minor news that cites partnerships of crypto payment platforms and retail stores.
Now however, a sudden change has arrived with American cryptocurrency payment startup Flexa revealing that it has partnered with some of the most internationally recognized retail brands, to accept crypto payments via its platform.
The names of Flexa’s partner retail brands below may well define why this could a big hit.
Barnes & Noble, Baskin Robbins, Bed Bath & Beyond, Caribou Coffee, Crate and Barrel, Jamba Juice, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Petco, Regal Cinemas and Amazon’s Whole Foods Market.
Flexa CEO Tyler Spalding, told that retailers will be charged a fee of one to two percent, which is lower than that charged by credit cards. Also, addressing retailers’ discomfort in accepting direct cryptocurrency payments, Spalding said that the retailers will receive payments in fiat currency “without ever having to touch cryptocurrency.”
Flexa has also partnered with Winklevoss Twin’s Gemini to allow its users to use Gemini dollar (GUSD), a USD-pegged stablecoin, to pay at the above mentioned retail stores. The announcement cited that apart from GUSD, other crypto such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash can also be used for the payments using the SPEDN mobile wallet app.
CNET reported that Flexa has future plans to integrate other mainstream crypto exchanges’ wallets such as Coinbase.
Still Unsure
In 2017, when prices were soaring, many small and large retailers announced plans to accept Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. But the excitement soon faded with the prices facing a steep decline. Till date, the fear of losing capital due to the volatility of cryptocurrency remains.
A payment system such as Flexa, which allows users to pay in cryptocurrencies, but also, on the other hand, lets retailers directly receive fiat money, has a high probability of acting as an effective bridge between the crypto and fiat financial space.
