Convenience store and gas service station On The Run (OTR) has partnered with Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com using its Pay Merchant service as its payment settlement layer. This deal was done to begin accepting cryptocurrencies for payments at 170 outlets across South Australia and Victoria sometime in July this year.

All stores, including service stations, C Coffee cafes dine-in and drive-through, Subway stores, Oporto, and Wok in a Box restaurant, will be set up to accept payments in cryptocurrency. This service will enable Australians to make payments for gas, and snacks in more than 30 cryptocurrencies. As expected, starting this system in July will make the company become the largest business in the country to accept in-store crypto payments. With the help of Datamesh, a Sydney-based payment systems provider, customers will be able to pay using the Crypto.com app with their cryptocurrency holdings. In metropolitan Adelaide and regional Australia, this will affect all points of sale of merchant terminals of the corporation's group of companies.

Peregrine Corporation which is a 38-year-old company is the parent company of OTR that has a presence across 160 locations throughout South Australia and Victoria. It is one of the largest privately-owned companies in South Australia and it will also be accepting crypto at its Subway, Oporto, and Smokemart stores. As per Peregrines’ executive chairman Yasser Shahin, this step for the company was an opportunity to enter into the cryptocurrency arena “The growth and mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrency adoption in Australia and the rest of the world have been phenomenal, and has offered us a clear opportunity to tap into the momentum of this fast-growing space for the benefit of our customers.”

Senator Andrew Bragg in March announced the Digital Services Act (DSA), a legislative proposal aimed at reforming market licensing, custody, and taxes, stating he wants to see Australia become a “crypto hub” and that the country is “open for business.”

The earlier partnership done by Crypto.com:

In Australia, this is Crypto.com’s second partnership. In January the company made an announcement of a multi-year agreement to sponsor the Adelaide Football Club. The company said a technology and payments company DataMesh Group, will bring Crypto.com in as an accepted ‘payment type’. In November last year, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency company announced it had bought the branding rights to rename the Staples Center in Los Angeles ‘Crypto.com Arena’.

Joyashree Dey

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA