Spar, a renowned grocery chain in Switzerland, has decided to make cryptocurrencies a part of its ecosystem. In partnership with Binance Pay and fintech platform DFX.swiss, Spar has started accepting cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as part of its payments ecosystem.
The crypto payment service has already been made live in over a hundred Spar stores across Switzerland, CoinTelegraph reported on Thursday, August 14. The feature is expand to 300 Spar stores in the coming months — the timeline of which remains unclear for now, the report said citing a company spokesperson.
Founded in 1953, Spar has grown into a retailer giant that currently operates over 13,500 convenience stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets across 48 countries. Its pivot towards pro-crypto policies indicates at the growing adoption of the digital assets.
André Scherrer, managing director at Spar Switzerland reportedly believes that compared to traditional payments, merchants could save upto two-thirds of their commission fees via crypto payments.
DFX.swiss will help Spar to process gas-free crypto payments in Swiss francs or even other fiat currencies.
Shoppers interested in paying for their purchases through crypto will need to scan a QR code using the Binance Pay App. They will then be asked to pick the token they wish to pay with — and DFX.swiss will facilitate the payment in real time.
Spar had gradually been rolling out the crypto payment feature in Switzerland for a while. Videos of buyers using BTC lightning payments at Spar stores from May and June are re-surfacing on social media.
Owing to the ongoing regulatory overhaul around crypto, it seems that more retailers are shifting their focus towards exploring crypto-based payments.
In June, for instance, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had reported that Walmart and Amazon were also exploring issuing their own stablecoins hoping to save billions in fees linked to traditional payments.