By the middle of this year, Australians will be able to pay with crypto at service stations and convenience stores in South Australia, as private enterprises warily embrace digital currency payments.
According to The Australian, On The Run (OTR), a prominent convenience store chain, will soon permit payment in Bitcoin and other digital currencies to all of its customers south of Down Under.
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Crypto For Fuel And Snacks
Patrons will be able to pay for petrol, snacks, and even a foot-long Subway sandwich with more than 30 cryptocurrencies.
OTR has also opened numerous shops in Victoria, however it is unclear whether or not they will accept digital currency payments.
Other companies that operate alongside OTR locations, such as Subway and Oporto, will also be able to accept the unique payment option.
OTR’s parent company, the Peregrine Corporation, one of South Australia’s largest privately held enterprises, will also take bitcoin at its Subway, Oporto, and Smokemart locations.
When the technology is fully operational in July, it will become the largest business in the country to take such type of payments in-store.
In Tandem With Major Company
The announcement is part of a partnership with Singapore-based Crypto.com that will see OTR become Australia’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer to take digital currency.
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Karl Mohan, Crypto.com Asia Pacific General Manager, said in a statement:
“Today, we made significant progress toward accelerating Australia’s acceptance of cryptocurrencies… consumers will now be able to pay for goods and services at all OTR locations using Crypto.com Merchant Pay.”
The company made headlines last November when it said it had acquired the rights to rebrand Los Angeles’ Staples Center into “Crypto.com Arena.”
This is the company’s second collaboration in Australia, after its announcement in January of a multi-year deal with the Adelaide Football Club.
Crypto.com will be accepted as a “payment type” by DataMesh Group, a technology and payments company.
The Early Birds
As early as 2014, a Colorado gas station began accepting the world’s largest digital asset class.
According to U.Today, American convenience shop behemoth Sheetz has also begun accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and other tokens through a partnership with Gemini-backed startup Flexa.
Last August, multiple bitcoin kiosk operators teamed up with Circle K in order to deploy Bitcoin ATMs throughout New York.
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