Over 25,000 sales outlets will enable their customers to pay in cryptocurrencies from 2020, various partner businesses in the digital-payment sector announced on Tuesday in a press release.
By using the Easy2Play Payment solution and the EasyWallet application developed in partnership with Global POS, about 30 companies will have access to this payment solution by the first quarter of 2020, according to the press release. They include Boulanger, Foot Locker, Decathlon, Conforama, Maison du Monde, Intersport, Cultura, Norauto and Sephora.
“This will not have an impact on the usual functioning of the companies since the exchange platforms will be in charge of converting the cryptocurrencies into euros,” according to the press release.
Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are virtual currencies based on a blockchain. According to various sectoral investigations carried out in 2017 and 2018, between 3% and 6% of French people own such currencies.
Tuesday’s announcement, made on the margins of the Paris Retail Week salon, is more than a “symbolic phase,” according to Global POS, which describes itself as “the leader” of the dematerialisation of the reimbursement of prepaid assets and digital payment. It will give distributors the possibility of a risk-free entry into the world of Economy 3.0, Global POS added.
“While, at first, the service we propose will only allow spending in bitcoins, our goal is to open up our solution to other cryptocurrencies in future,” said Global POS founding manager Stéphane Djiane, quoted in the press release.
For Grégory Hervein, co-founder of Moustaches, which specialises in products for cats and dogs, “the acceptance of cryptocurrencies is a real challenge” for businesses. “We are aware of the expectations of the public and the scope of the message that we are sending to an entire community,” he added.
"We are happy to be able to make this ecosystem more concrete for the consumers and to enter the crypto-economy in a legal framework,” favoured by the promulgation of the Loi Pacte, Hervein was quoted as saying in the press release.
The Brussels Times
