The largest food producer and retailer in the Western Balkan region - Konzum - has become the first retail chain in Croatia where customers can pay with digital assets. Currently, such transactions are only available in the online store, but the company plans to introduce the service in its supermarkets in the near future.
Additionally, North America's leading technology-focused online retailer, Newegg, has announced that it will accept Shiba Inu (quotation SHIB and other crypto) as a form of payment on its platform during the Christmas holidays. Nothing, a London-based consumer technology company, will also allow cryptocurrency deals for its new product.
Cryptocurrencies invade the Balkan Peninsula
Konzum, the largest Croatian supermarket chain with over 10.000 employees, has revealed that it will enter the cryptocurrency sector by accepting various digital assets as a means of payment. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ripple (XRP), Stellar (XLM), Dai (DAI), EOS (EOS), Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).
To enable such payments, Konzum partnered with domestic fintech firm Electrocoin and its PayCek system, known as Croatia's first cryptocurrency payment processor. Given the volatility of most digital tokens, the latter will guarantee the buyer a fixed exchange rate at the start of the transaction and provide sufficient time for proper execution.
Uroš Kalinić, a member of Konzum's board of directors for finance and IT, noted that Konzum constantly monitors global trends, suggesting that the cryptocurrency industry is one of them.
"As the largest retail chain in Croatia, which in its nearly 65 years of history is a continuous leader in the domestic market in terms of commercial and technological achievements, we are proud to be a leader in another area that is being rapidly developing and dictating the future, ”he summed up.
Konzum is not only the leading supermarket chain in Croatia, but also the largest in the Western Balkan area. In addition to its homeland, it extends to two other countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The retail giant serves over 650.000 customers every day in its 700+ stores, as the cryptocurrency option will be available in some of them in the coming months.
Newegg and Nothing follow the trend
Another major ecommerce company that has recently embraced additional digital asset settlements is Newegg. The California-based company, which accepted bitcoin as a payment method in 2014, has now added the popular Shiba Inu (SHIB) meme coin to its list of supported digital assets. Interestingly, he made the news official by displaying it on The Reef, North America's largest DOOH billboard located in downtown Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, Newegg was one of the first companies globally to accept SHIB's biggest rival: Dogecoin (DOGE). Later, he also added Litecoin (LTC).
Andrew Choi, the company's Director of Brand Marketing, admitted that customers are very interested in cryptocurrencies. Giving them the ability to use bitcoin and alternative currencies as a payment method offers "more flexibility".
Next, Nothing - a tech company founded by Carl Pei (co-founder of OnePlus) - dove into the cryptocurrency bandwagon by accepting digital asset payments for its black edition Nothing ear (1) wireless earbuds. These coins are Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC) and Dogecoin (DOGE).
The payment option is available in Nothing's online stores in the following countries: United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Japan.
