In what comes as a major impetus for cryptocurrency adoption, Switzerland’s largest online retail store, , now accepts major digital currencies such as bitcoin, ether, and XRP, among others as a means of payment. This came to light in a by Watson published March 19, 2019.
Crypto Adoption Continues to Make Steady Inroads
The report states that Digitec-Galaxus had been mulling integration of virtual currencies as a means of payment for a long time.
According to the by the online retailer, customers of Switzerland’s largest online shop can now purchase items with bitcoin () and altcoins such as ether (), , litecoin (), bitcoin cash (), bitcoin cash SV (), binance coin (), TRON (), , and omiseGO ().
Notably, users can only use cryptocurrencies to pay for items if their bill exceeds CHF200 ($200.05). Oliver Herren, the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of Digitec said:
“Cryptocurrencies are fascinating and could become a relevant means of payment in e-commerce. We would like to support this development. We wanted to do that for a long time, but the effort was too long for a long time.”
Often called “Switzerland’s Amazon,” Digitec-Galaxus offers an impressive catalog close to 2.7 million products on its website.
It’s worthy of note that Digitec-Galaxus’ newly unveiled crypto payment gateway was co-developed with the Swiss e-payment platform designer firm as part of a pilot project.
Hanspeter Maurer, the Managing Director of Datatrans AG explained:
“So far, paying by cryptocurrencies hasn’t been viable for most people. We’re keen to find out how Digitec and Galaxus customers take up this offer.”
, the President of bitcoin Association Switzerland, that Digitec is owned by , which is Switzerland’s largest retail firm, the largest supermarket chain, and the country’s largest employer.
Interestingly enough, the online retail giant also cryptocurrency cold storage hardware wallets – Ledger Nano S and SatoshiLabs’ Trezor.
(Source: )
Partnership with Coinify
In order to ensure a smooth payment experience, Digitec-Galaxus has partnered with online crypto platform .
Once a customer selects the “cryptocurrencies” payment method, the checkout process redirects them to a Coinify page where they can select the digital currency they wish to make the payment in.
Once a cryptocurrency of a customer’s choosing is selected, they receive a static conversion rate from the website that applies for 15 minutes. The customer can then make the payment through a .
Of late, Switzerland has emerged as one of the leaders in cryptocurrency adoption.
BTCManager on November 18, 2018, how the Swiss regulatory authorities gave the go-ahead to cryptocurrency startup to list a crypto index fund on Europe’s fourth-largest stock exchange, .
Published at Tue, 19 Mar 2019 21:00:26 +0000
