Chipotle Mexican Grill is partnering with Flexa digital payments platform to allow customers to pay with 98 different cryptocurrencies. The next time you order a chorizo burrito from Chipotle, you could pay with bitcoin, ether, or USDC.
What is Flexa?
Flexa is a digital payments platform that launched in 2019 and allows customers to make purchases using cryptocurrencies at various merchants through digital payment apps. The service supports 98 different global cryptocurrencies including Aave, Ada, Algo, ATOM, Axie Infinity Shard, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin Cash, COMP, Crypto.com Coin, Dai, Dash, Dogecoin, Enjin Coin, GALA, Litecoin, Livepeer Token, Lumen, MANA, MATIC, Pax Gold, RARI, SAND, Shib, SOL, STORJ, UNI, Zcash, and ZRX.
Consumers use apps to make payments at the merchants that accept Flexa payments. Apps currently available for free download include Gemini and SPEDN. Both are available for Android and iOS devices. Nine other wallet apps are listed as “coming soon.”
Flexa payments are 100 percent digital, touch-free, and private. Businesses that use Flexa can accept payments from customers all over the world.
Digital Payments Providers Will Hasten Crypto Adoption
Chipotle is not the first fast-food restaurant to accept cryptocurrencies. Other fast-food restaurants that accept cryptocurrency payments include Shake Shake, Quizno’s, Subway, Asian Bistro, One Stop Coney Shop, Link Express, Poblano East, and Burger King.
In an economy with an inflation rate the highest since the 1970s and rising interest rates, people are turning to digital payments in greater numbers. But the competition is so stiff Visa recently lowered its swipe fees. Still, the fees are high compared to transaction fees when paying by cryptocurrency, which are typically in the 1 percent range. There are other benefits to making payments in cryptocurrency, however.
Crypto lowers the risk of fraudulent charges. With credit cards, because they are swiped, your personal account information is seen by multiple parties and the chances that it could fall into the hands of a bad actor are considerably higher. With cryptocurrency, users can pay in a touch-free way from a private wallet or app.
Cryptocurrency also reduces chargebacks for the merchant. Consumers may forget what a specific credit card purchase was for, and many purchases appear on bank statements under names that are unfamiliar to the consumer. It’s easy to dispute the charges and costly for banks to investigate the claims to ensure the chargeback doesn’t occur. Cryptocurrencies solve that problem for the merchant and the consumer.
Flexa is also not the first crypto payments platform to launch. Other crypto payments services include Coinbase Commerce, BitPay, CoinGate, CoinPayments, SpectroCoin, and CoinsBank.
As crypto adoption grows, the number of crypto payments services will likely grow and credit card companies will have to adapt or go out of business.
Pay for Your Chipotle Meal with Crypto Earned While Playing Games
Consumers who wish to pay with cryptocurrencies at Chipotle can get a 10 percent discount on their next purchase. The discount applies no matter which cryptocurrency is used to make the purchase.
Flexa accepts cryptocurrencies that users can earn in play-to-earn games. These include cryptocurrencies in popular games like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and The Sandbox. Enjin and Gala Games are blockchain-based gaming platforms where players earn cryptocurrencies playing a variety of games. Livepeer is a video streaming service that allows creators to earn tokens and can then spend those tokens on the Flexa app. NFT investors can use Flexa to pay with tokens they earn buying and selling NFTs on Rarible.
The digital payments space is growing and getting better all the time. Flexa is the evidence of that growth. Now, Chipotle lovers can enjoy one other way to appreciate crypto for what it is—digital money.