Switzerland’s Biggest Online Retailer Starts Accepting Payments in Bitcoin (BTC) and Altcoins


Digitec Galaxus AG, the biggest online retailer in Switzerland, has decided to enter the crypto space and has done so through the main door.

In an official press release published on its website a few hours ago, the e-commerce giant announced that as of today, customers will be able to pay for their purchases with Bitcoin (BTC) and a significant number of altcoins:

“As one of the first online shops in Switzerland, Digitec Galaxus now accepts cryptocurrencies: customers of the two online shops digitec and Galaxus can now use Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash ABC, Bitcoin Cash SV, Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Binance Coin, Litecoin, TRON, NEO or OmiseGO to pay for all purchases with a total of over CHF 200.- or more”.

The firm was able to implement this new payment method thanks to a strategic alliance with the Swiss e-payments company Datatrans AG. This fintech, for its part, works together with Coinify (a crypto payment provider) to guarantee the instant conversion of crypto into traditional fiat currency.

Crypto Payments: Innovation is Always Good For Business

Despite not being wholly convinced of the advantages of blockchain technologies, Oliver Herren, Chief Innovation Officer at Digitec said that the company was willing to take that step a long time ago, but had to wait for the ecosystem to develop a bit to ensure a safe and innovative implementation:

“We’ve been wanting to do this for ages, but the effort it would have required has just always been too big. Now we’ve found a simple solution with Datatrans and Coinify. Thanks to our very own engineering team Spectre, the implementation has been a relatively effortless and straightforward matter”.

However, Claudio Schaad, leader of Team Spectre showed greater enthusiasm, explaining that the development team was really optimistic about the use of cryptocurrencies to expand their services:

The question of the hour was: what was the coolest, most impactful project they could come up with? They found their answer in a half-attempted but finally abandoned agile initiative: cryptocurrencies. The mystery-mongers at Spectre laughed and said: this fits us like a glove”

Mr. Herren explains that Digitec Galaxus AG would not be directly involved in the handling of cryptocurrencies. At the time of payment, customers send tokens that are immediately exchanged by Coinify into fiat, which is immediately transferred to the retailer. The process has a 15-minute payment window to minimize the risk associated with the volatility of the cryptocurrencies.

The payment option is enabled for all the 2.7 million products available for purchase on both Digitec’s website – geared towards consumer electronics – and Galaxus – an online warehouse for the general public.

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