On The Run Australians use cryptocurrency to pay for fuel and chips at 175 gas stations
On The Run (OTR), a chain of gas stations and convenience stores, has begun accepting cryptocurrency payments at all 175 of its locations in Victoria, South Australia (SA), and Western Australia (WA).
As was previously mentioned, the action is a result of a partnership between DataMesh, a Sydney-based provider of payment solutions, and OTR, a Singapore-based exchange called Crypto.com.
While Datamesh provided the point of sale terminals, the exchange provided its Pay Merchant service as a payment settlement layer.
According to Asia & Pacific general manager of Crypto.com Karl Mohan, it only took "eight weeks to to the point of actually creating a full scalable production-ready environment" from the time of proof of concept.
While the technology has originally been installed at 175 OTR stores, Mohan stressed that the crypto payments service is operationally prepared to go considerably further.
What now occurs is that any merchant, whether they are a cafe owner or someone who manages thousands of locations, could just plug and play, he claimed.
Along with the existing 175 locations, OTR's parent firm Peregrine Corp plans to expand the crypto payments service to 250 additional retail locations nationwide, including Subway, Oporto, and Krispy Kreme.
Mohan added that in this case, Crypto.com charges no fees for the transactions. The merchant, who will choose their own prices, will charge fees, though. Such could imply that transaction costs might be comparable to those of fiat card payments.
When asked about the requirements for widespread adoption of cryptocurrency payments in Australia, particularly in light of the tax implications of doing so, Mohan suggested that using a stablecoin backed by the Australian dollar might be the answer:
Therefore, it stands to reason that Bitcoin and Ethereum are already at the top of the list due to their market capitalisation. However, a sizable portion of consumers have indicated that they are prepared to accept and begin using Australian stablecoins as payment.
We've made the system open, and as you can see from ANZ's announcement of the Australian dollar stablecoin and the availability of different stablecoin kinds, I firmly believe that it will enter the mainstream.
The ANZ bank has only used its A$DC stablecoin for private institutional purposes during its pilot testing, but if it is ever made available to the general public, Mohan said, "we would love the opportunity to work with any financial or any Australian deposit-taking institution that is keen to introduce a stablecoin."
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