E-commerce giant Shopify (Shop) brings stablecoin payments to its merchants across the base, Crypto Exchange Coinbase (Coin )’s Ethereum Layer-2 network, companies say Thursday.
The integration is set to roll out on June 12 to a limited group of merchants with early access, with a wider accessibility expected later in the year for all merchants using Shopify payments, companies say.
Once the rollout is completed, merchants will be able to accept payments of Circle’s (CRCL) USDC-token on-chain while receiving local currency settlements without incurred foreign transaction fees. Shopify said it is planning to give 1% cash back to customers paying with USDC. This feature that will be launched later in the year.
Stableecoins, digital tokens, whose value is tied to a real asset, finds a wider range of uses than simply allowing traders to move funds between cryptocurrencies without converting to Fiat currency. The use explodes with a growth of 54% in supply year to year and increased use of companies such as PayPal (PYPL) and Grab (Grab) for payments and international transfers.
The new initiative is designed to streamline the global trade in crypto-native infrastructure, lower costs and increase efficiency and are supported by a new open source payments protocol developed by Coinbase and Shopify.
The Smart Contract and Commerce Payments Protocol supports standard features such as delayed capture, tax calculation and refund processing and is integrated directly into merchants’ existing order fulfillment systems, companies say.
Shopify said the chosen base for its low cost, high-speed and safe transaction environment with the aim of helping bring crypto payments into the mainstream retail experience.
Read more: Shopify customers can now pay in USDC via Solana Pay
