An exclusive announcement about Solana Pay’s integration with Shopify, a major global e-commerce platform, was made to TechCrunch. Solana Pay is a ground-breaking decentralized payment protocol created by Solana Labs. Through this tactical partnership, Solana Pay can be easily adopted by millions of businesses using Shopify for payment processing.
Since its creation in February 2022, Solana Pay has made a name for itself as a leader in payment technology by using the features of Solana’s main blockchain. Notably, it will begin with USDC – the second-largest stablecoin valued at $25.9 billion. According to Josh Fried from the Solana Foundation, they decided on this coin due to its connection to the US dollar and established regulations; both merchants and customers are familiar with digital payments and can easily adjust when using USDC.
Fried emphasized that although USDC currently dominates, the protocol intends to eventually broaden its payment options to include additional cryptocurrencies like SOL and BONK.
With a significant 10% share of all U.S. e-commerce and a staggering $444 billion worth of economic activity worldwide, Shopify is a formidable force in the e-commerce space. For Shopify’s merchants, the integration with Solana Pay opens up new opportunities by allowing them to interact with Solana’s dynamic ecosystem.
Solana’s network is a testament to its success, boasting an active user base of more than 11.5 million accounts. Numerous large cryptocurrency companies, such as Phantom and, have already adopted Solana Pay, attesting to the trustworthiness and dependability of the protocol, with payment processing giants like Citcon and Checkout.com following suit.
Fried emphasized the significance of focusing on this crucial element of the cryptocurrency landscape and shared his conviction that payments are the “killer app” for cryptocurrencies. The key benefit of Solana Pay is its nearly fee-free transactions, which contrast sharply with the 1.5% to 3.5% credit card processing fees that are typically paid by businesses. On Solana’s blockchain, transactions cost an average of just $0.00025, making the protocol a cost-effective choice that also ensures prompt and effective processing.
Fried spoke about how Solana has been able to maintain a perfect uptime record in the second quarter, reassuring customers of its stability and reliability. He further added that with Solana Pay, merchants can easily create loyalty programs, which include issuing Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as rewards for customer engagement and retention. This requires minimal effort from developers while still providing vibrant loyalty schemes.
Famous names and teams in the world of cryptocurrencies, like MonkeDAO, Helius, and Mad Lads, have wasted no time in incorporating Solana Pay into their Shopify shops. In addition, customers of Solana-focused digital wallets such as Glow, Phantom, and Solflare can easily access the plugin, which further increases the accessibility of using Solana Pay.
With the release of blockchain-enabled commerce tools and features earlier this year, Shopify began its foray into cryptocurrency payments, enabling businesses to investigate token-based applications. The platform is committed to innovation in the payments industry, as evidenced by its existing integrations with services like BitPay, Coinbase Commerce, Strike, and Crypto.com.
Fried sees Solana Labs blockchain as highly beneficial for payment processes because it eliminates intermediaries, bank fees, chargebacks, and long wait times. The fast pace of Solana Pay matches the expectations of merchants and customers alike, making possible a future with hassle-free and immediate payments.