Customers of 175 OTR fuel and convenience store sites across Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia can now pay for everyday items, such as petrol, coffee and sandwiches using cryptocurrency.
The development comes as cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com and payment terminal provider DataMesh unveiled a world-first scalable solution that enables payment terminals and merchants to support in-person crypto payments without fiat conversion.
Peregrine Corp, the owner of OTR, plans to roll out the capability to another 250 retail sites across the country, including Krispy Kreme stores in SA and the Northern Territory.
Executive Chairman of Peregrine Corporation, Yasser Shahin, says OTR convenience stores strive to embrace innovation, so it was a natural progression to offer customers the option to pay with digital assets.
“The OTR story is about giving customers choice and making life easy. The decision to offer cryptocurrency payments is centered around this story – by offering our customers convenience in how they pay, whether it be cash, card or crypto,” he says.
How it works
The new partnership enables crypto payments to be made by simply using the Crypto.com App to scan a QR code.
At time of payment, the merchant selects Crypto.com as the preferred payment type, generating a dynamic QR Code on the terminal which is scanned by the customer. The customer then selects and authorises their preferred cryptocurrency for payment, which is settled instantly to the merchant in fiat AUD.
From today, consumers can now utilise their crypto for everyday purchases at 175 OTR convenience stores across Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, as well as Peregrine’s 250 SMGB retail locations across the country. Until 16 September, OTR customers who pay with crypto will also be offered 2% cashback on purchases.
Crypto demand
According to Roy Morgan Research, more than one million Australians currently own cryptocurrencies at an average individual value of more than $20,000.
Melbourne-based Crypto.com General Manager Asia & Pacific, Karl Mohan, says Australia is ripe for a cryptocurrency revolution as consumers and businesses push to use crypto as an everyday payment alternative to cash or credit.
“Our latest research shows that 55% of both merchants and consumers want to transact in crypto and this innovation within OTR stores is bringing these ambitions to life and ensuring that Australia is at the forefront of crypto payments evolution,” he said.
CEO of DataMesh Group, Mark Nagy, says he believes the development will normalise cryptocurrency payments, and see other businesses look to incorporate it into their existing payment suite.
“We know merchants are looking at many alternative payment instruments including crypto as an opportunity to diversify their payment streams and attract new customers, which is why we are determined to deliver integrated processing capabilities that will make crypto payments fast and accessible for all involved,” he says.