Cryptocurrency Payments , long the pipe-dream of the self-titled ‘crypto enthusiasts,’ took another step towards becoming a reality this week. A statement released by cryptocurrency payments firm Cyclebit indicates that soon Spaniards will be able to purchase their coffee using Bitcoin.
“Spaniards buying coffee with Bitcoin?” I hear you ask, “what the hell are you talking about?”
Well, Cyclebit has made a deal with Nostrum, a Spanish coffee company that operates a network of more than a hundred coffee shops throughout the Iberian peninsula.
Those stores, which are like Starbucks but with good coffee, will now be accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Customers can also buy and sell the cryptocurrency at the stores.
Not a first for Cyclebit
The deal is not the first one that Cyclebit has made. Customers in a number of stores in countries across Europe and South Korea have adopted the company’s technology and can accept cryptocurrency payments.
To get started, companies just have to download Cyclebit’s application, and they can start receiving payments in a number of different Cryptocurrencies .
“The idea is to make the purchasing and payment experience close to already existing well known procedures for credit cards or contactless payments,” a spokesperson for Cyclebit said.
Cryptocurrency payments have slowly been growing in popularity over the past 12 months, particularly as Bitcoin has experienced a downturn in its massive volatility.
Adoption has been particularly widespread in countries affected by economic malaise.
Venezuela, a socialist paradise in South America, has seen a huge number of retailers start to accept the cryptocurrency Dash as a form of payment.
The company behind the cryptocurrency estimates that more than 2,200 firms now accept payments in Dash.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the company announced that it would be launching an SMS payments service in the country so that people could send and receive Dash without using a smartphone.
