One of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms, Shopify, has now integrated tech from CoinPayments, a payments processor, to bring crypto to online merchants. In a separate announcement, the online giant has also formed a new partnership with Facebook to help business owners create Facebook Shops.
Shopify allows website owners to build their own virtual store fronts, managing and tracking sales, and responding to orders. Its use of CoinPayments signals the rise of cryptocurrencies as a critical growth sector, with consumer-facing tech giants aiming to reach people with digital assets.
Shopify has a 20% market share in the industry and is the second most popular e-commerce solution after WooCommerce, which has a 26% market share. Generating $1.578 billion in revenue in 2019, a 47% increase over 2018, Shopify continues to grow at a rapid rate.
Upon the release of last year’s financial results, Shopify’s CEO Tobi Lütke remarked,
“2019 was a milestone year for us. We’ve earned the trust of more than one million merchants, and we are motivated more than ever to keep lowering the learning curve so anyone, anywhere can become an entrepreneur.”
The Canadian e-commerce giant first began a beta trial with CoinPayments in 2019. Shoppers will now see the crypto gateway as an option for making purchases on Shopify. The company says people will be able to spend their digital currencies by making simple and secure crypto payments.
The move is also designed to leverage blockchain-based currencies, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Ether, XRP and Tron, to reduce legacy transaction fees by flattening the stream of fee-charging middlemen who bloat the costs associated with credit cards and other traditional gateways.
According to the announcement,
“Vendors will now get paid faster in any of the 1,800 cryptocurrencies supported by CoinPayments while gaining access to untapped markets globally. This partnership further enables cross-border payments, allowing merchants to eliminate the hassle of working with multiple payment processors across different jurisdictions.”
Shopify is also powering Facebook Shops, a free new tool that will allow online merchants to create customized storefronts on Facebook and Instagram.
Shopify says merchants can grow their businesses across Facebook’s family of apps through a new, unified Facebook channel.
“Merchants will be able to automatically connect their Shopify business to Facebook in one place, while making their customers’ shopping experience feel native to each individual app.”
New features and functions will roll out across 2020. It is not yet clear if Facebook Shops will also offer crypto payment options.
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