Five innovative uses of blockchain technology in retail
These companies are leading the way in the booming blockchain space and showing that there really is substance behind the hype. Featuring Shop.com, Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, Moon and pingNpay.
1. Shop.com
US-based e-commerce platform Shop.com is getting into the cryptocurrency payments game.
The company, which is owned by Market America, has partnered with BitPay, enabling it to accept payments in several cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, as well as five USD pegged stablecoins.
The BitPay integration is available in all the countries where Market America operates, which includes the US, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, UK, Singapore and Malaysia.
2. Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee has launched a trial of a new blockchain technology powered reusable cup scheme called BURT.
BURT – which stands for ‘Borrow, Use, Reuse, Take Back’ – starts this week across 14 stores in Glasgow and will last for six months.
Costa Coffee will be using the trial to gain feedback from customers and learn about uptake and behaviour towards reusable cups. It will then use its findings to develop a scheme that will roll-out more widely across the UK in phases.
To participate in the trial, customers must set up an account by scanning a QR code displayed in one of the participating stores.
By making a one off £5 payment to join the scheme, they can then scan the QR code on the base of a BURT cup, which links the cup to the customer’s account, via blockchain technology. They can then pay at the till as normal while a barista prepares their coffee.
The cup can be returned to a participating Costa Coffee store at a time that suits them, where it will be scanned back in by the team, delinked from their account, and machine washed in-store, ready for the next customer. Customers will be given a new BURT cup with each new order.
3. Moon
Moon, a US-based startup that enables crypto payments for e-commerce sites, has raised $2.1 million.
The funding round included participation from Fenbushi Capital, New Form Capital, SBX Capital, Manresa Ventures, Fulgur Ventures, Flight.VC, Bentaus, Block0, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and Bill Murphy, the former CTO at Blackstone.
Moon CEO and Founder Ken Kruger told CoinDesk the company is using the cash to expand into a web and mobile application, making it possible to fund Moon cards with accounts from other exchanges (currently it only uses Coinbase).
It is also looking to expand its geographic reach, enable users to pay with stablecoins in addition to Bitcoin and bring in new employees
Plans are also afoot to make its product available for merchants outside of the US.
4. pingNpay
pingNpay will make its blockchain powered retail micropayments network operational next year.
The London-based startup is moving out of stealth mode and initially launching in the UK, using a digital coin backed by the pound.
5. McDonald’s
McDonald’s is now accepting payments in Bitcoin through Lightning Network. But only in El Salvador.
Crypto journalist Aaron van Wirdum broke the news after he visited a McDonald’s restaurant in the country and was presented with a printed QR code directing him to an invoice page on Lightning Network.
El Salvador recently become the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. Businesses are now obliged where possible to accept it as payment.
