Despite its instability as a currency, Bitcoin has established itself as a common means of payment for many people, with other cryptocurrencies also gaining their fair share of market adoption in recent times. But until now, it hasn"t really been possible to use them in brick-and-mortar stores, which limits their usefulness.
A company called Flexa is set to change that though, and it starts today with the initial launch of its network, as well as the SPEDN app. SPEDN is a mobile wallet app that lets you access your Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Gemini Dollar wallets, and you can use it to pay for your groceries and other purchases at physical locations.
To do this, the app will generate a barcode that stores can read to spend whichever currency the user prefers for that purchase, which is then converted in real time into U.S. dollars. This takes away a lot of the hassle of accepting payments on the store"s side, since it doesn"t seem to require any special technology to be adopted by the location itself.
At this time, the SPEDN app is available for a limited number of iOS users, and a broader release is planned for next week, and an Android app is also coming soon. The app can be used to make payments at Barnes & Noble, Baskin Robbins, Bed Bath & Beyond, Caribou Coffee, Crate and Barrel, Express, GameStop, Jamba Juice, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Petco, Regal, Ulta Beauty, and Whole Foods Market.