Austrian Merchants Will Soon Accept Crypto Payments

Austrian crypto holders will soon be able to use their Bitcoin, Ethereum or Dash at over 2,500 merchants across the country, according to an announcement from fintech firm Salamantex.

Salamantex's software has integrated with A1 Payments, a popular merchant payment processing system. Even if customers pay with cryptocurrencies, the merchants will receive Euros, protecting them from exchange rates or currency risks. However, the option will only be available if merchants activate the feature.

"Our goal is to make paying with digital currencies at the checkout as easy and natural as we have been used to with credit cards for decades," Markus Pejacsevich, COO of Salamantex said. "With A1, we have a partner for the Austria-wide rollout who, just like us, is convinced of this payment system of the future and works towards making payment with digital assets accessible to the broad masses."

Salamantex's Crypto Payment Service software is designed to integrate easily with an array of payment systems, meaning that crypto payment options could be implemented across systems like Square or PayPal. 

Last month rumors surfaced that PayPal is already planning to offer crypto and buying services to its 325 million users. Reportedly, the company will also provide crypto custodian services. At the Economic Times Global Business Summit, PayPal CTO Sri Shivananda noted that businesses follow consumers, India Times reported.

“The main thing to keep in mind in this business is to follow consumers," he said. "If consumers start to feel like there’s some leverage that they get through cryptocurrencies, everything else will automatically fall in line.”

Programs like Salamantex's in Austria could help to start building the consumer demand that will motivate companies like PayPal to offer crypto options. A survey of 5,000 Americans in 2019 found that 13.5% of people either owned Bitcoin or were planning to buy some. If this survey does in fact hold true for the population of the United States, that 13.5% represents 42,666,000 people, which is a meaningful customer base that companies will likely want to capture.

Salamantex stated in its release that further collaborations with payment service providers are already in motion. If smaller fintech companies can build up a customer base, then industry giants like PayPal may follow suit.

By Emily Mason

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