PROSECUTORS WANT A 40- TO 50-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR SAM BANKMAN-FRIED A major roadblock to the normalizing of digital assets as a form of payment has been their applicability on Main Street.Besides a handful of large companies like Starbucks, Subway and AMC Theaters recently accepting payments in bitcoin and ether, many U.S.
businesses do not accept crypto remittances, particularly small mom-and-pop businesses.But unlike bitcoin and ether, stablecoins, which are typically pegged to a stable asset like the U.S.dollar, do not have the same price volatility and therefore make them more suitable for day to day transactions.USDC, the stablecoin that Compass Coffee will accept, is issued by crypto company Circle, in which Coinbase holds a minority stake.Users can easily convert their dollars into stablecoins using a digital wallet or through a crypto exchange like Coinbase or Kraken.Coinbase hopes the partnership with Compass will encourage other small businesses in the area to integrate stablecoin payments while helping to bust crypto’s rep among D.C.
regulators and politicians as merely a speculative investment asset.Coinbase aims to do this by spotlighting crypto as a solution to what it calls the U.S.‘s “antiquated” financial system that “shortchanges” Americans, primarily through hidden transaction fees.
One of the biggest selling points for cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology it operates on is its ability to cut out the so-called “middle man,” or intermediary organizations like banks and credit card companies, that impose fees whenever money is moved across their platforms.The decentralized nature of the blockchain helps cut the cost and the time of crypto transactions down to just fractions of credit card transactions, which can take days to settle, with processing fees ranging from 1.5% to 3.5%.Coinbase and Compass are alerting customers to this money-saving message using the coffee cups at the Half Street store on Wednesday.”$126 billion in estimated credit card transaction fees paid in 2022 by U.S.merchants,” the cups read.
“2.5X the entire U.S.coffee shop market.Over 99% of this could have been saved by using blockchain technology.” BITCOIN SURPASSES $73,000, HITS NEW RECORD In the case of Compass Coffee, the company says it currently loses around 3.75% of its revenue to credit card companies through so-called “junk fees,” surcharges paid on transactions made with a credit card.As a small, veteran-owned business that survived the COVID-19 pandemic, Compass says every dollar counts and the money it currently shells out to credit card companies could be better used to pay staff, rent and suppliers.
“Accepting crypto payments could be transformational for our business,” Compass Coffee founder and CEO Michael Haft tells FOX Business.”We hope to help transform retail experiences by accepting USDC and limiting junk fees so those margins that would typically go to credit card companies can come back to us and boost the local economy instead.” While the USDC payment option will only be available at its Half Street store for now, Compass plans to roll out the feature at its eleven other locations in the future.Coinbase will also host its inaugural Update the System Summit on Wednesday, an event aimed at spotlighting how cryptocurrency can be used to solve real-world problems facing everyday Americans.The event will feature panels with major industry players like Marc Andreessen of crypto-focused venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as well as pro-crypto lawmakers like North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis.”The Update the System Summit will feature the myriad real-life applications that are being developed for crypto and blockchain technology,” Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad tells FOX Business.”Our partnership with Compass is a good pilot to show how stablecoins can simplify finance and save small businesses thousands of dollars on unnecessary credit card fees.” Original article source:.
