Digitec Galaxus Becomes the First Swiss Online Retailer to Accept Cryptocurrencies

The biggest online retailer in Switzerland, Digitec Galaxus, has recently announced that it will now accept cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange, according to a press release published on March 19. According to ecommerceDB, an e-commerce data platform, Digitec Galaxus was first launched in 2010, it is the world’s 100th biggest online retailer, and in 2018 had net sales of over $811 million, which seem only to increase this year.

Digitec Galaxus, from now on, will start accepting cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. The shoppers of the largest Swiss online shop will now able to pay with Bitcoin as well as a number of altcoins such as Ethereum, Ripple or Litecoin. To be exact about the cryptocurrencies that will be accepted on Digitec Galaxus, the shop is now accepting Bitcoin(BTC)trade, Binance Coin (BNB), Ripple (XRP)trade, Litecoin (LTC)trade, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Ethereum (ETH)trade, OmiseGO (OMG), Tron (TRX), and NEO (NEO) for purchases worth over 200 Swiss Franc (about $200).

Oliver Herren, CIO, and co-founder of Digitec Galaxus said that “Cryptocurrencies are fascinating and likely to become a relevant means of payment in e-commerce – we want to support this development.” According to the press release, this online retailer has a very broad spectrum of products to offer (nearly 3 million!), which can now be purchased with various virtual currencies.

This new digital means of payment is a result of the joint venture of the Swiss e-payment specialist Datatrans AG and Danish crypto payment provider Coinify. Managing Director of Datatrans Hanspeter Maurer stated the following:

“So far, paying by cryptocurrencies hasn’t been viable for most people. We’re keen to find out how digitec and Galaxus customers take up this offer.”

Breaking down the payment process, the shoppers at Digitec Galaxus will be redirected to a Coinify page where they’re asked to select their desired means of payment from a list, and there they can decide to choose paying via cryptocurrencies. In the next step, the shoppers will receive a conversation rate which will remain steady for 15 minutes, as well as other payment details. For the final checkout, the customers can utilize the built-in crypto wallet functionality.

Talking about the fees, Digitec Galaxus doesn’t charge any transactional fee for transactions executed through cryptos. However, Coinify charges a fee of 1.5% of the purchase price via the conversion rate which may further be subjected to small transaction fees depending on the payment settlement time and the selected cryptocurrency with which the customers choose to pay. According to the press release, Coinfy settles the transactions within a few minutes.

“The technology is constantly improved,” states Datatrans boss Maurer, “faster and more cost-effective transactions are already in sight.”