Back in 2023, Crypto.com scored a major partnership, integrating its payment system, Crypto.com Pay, directly into the Shopify platform. Announced in late June and rolled out shortly thereafter, the integration allows millions of online stores powered by Shopify to accept cryptocurrency as payment. While crypto enthusiasts are heralding it as a step towards mainstream adoption, the move is really about giving merchants another option at checkout, and it conveniently plays into the growing ecosystem Crypto.com is building around its app and native token, CRO. Whether or not your average consumer is ready to ditch their credit card for Bitcoin remains to be seen, but it definitely gives Crypto.com a leg up on competitors that are also trying to onboard new users to their platform.
The integration primarily targets existing users of the Crypto.com App, letting them seamlessly pay participating Shopify merchants with their crypto holdings. Crypto.com is sweetening the deal for businesses by offering a low 0.5% settlement fee, even waiving it entirely for the first month. This undercuts traditional payment processors, though the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies could give some businesses pause. Shopify merchants now have access to a variety of coins, from the usual suspects like Bitcoin and Ethereum to meme coins like Doge, and even Crypto.com’s own CRO. Currently, the crypto market is experiencing price fluctuations and many ups and downs, which could affect the new partnership.
The Shopify partnership is a significant play by Crypto.com to expand its reach and potentially boost the utility of CRO. It puts them in direct competition with other crypto payment processors and even established players like PayPal, all vying for a piece of the evolving digital payments pie. While it might not spark a crypto revolution overnight, it’s a noteworthy development in the ongoing saga of cryptocurrency’s journey from niche asset to everyday currency. With this partnership, Crypto.com is making it known that they are aiming to be a leader in the cryptocurrency space.
While the Crypto.com Pay and Shopify integration generated significant buzz upon its June 28th launch, concrete data on transaction volume and user adoption remains scarce. Crypto.com has not yet publicly released detailed statistics on the number of merchants actively using the service or the volume of cryptocurrency transacted through it. Initial adoption is speculated to be slow, given the inherent volatility of the crypto market and the learning curve associated with implementing and using new payment technologies. However, the partnership’s long-term impact is still in its early stages, and broader adoption trends within the e-commerce and cryptocurrency space will likely influence its trajectory. It is worth noting that, anecdotally, there have been reports of smaller, crypto-friendly businesses embracing the option, but widespread mainstream adoption among Shopify’s millions of merchants likely remains a gradual process. Despite the current, unclarity around specific user numbers, the partnership alone positions Crypto.com as a forward-thinking entity in the evolving digital payments landscape.
