Why Switzerland's Biggest Retailer Accepting Bitcoin is Crucial For Adoption

Digitec Galaxus AG, Switzerland's biggest online retailer with nearly a billion dollars in annual revenue, has integrated various crypto assets including bitcoin as a payment option.

Speaking to CryptoSlate in an exclusive interview, Lucas Betschart, the President of Bitcoin Association Switzerland, said that Digitech is reportedly larger than Amazon in the region and is hopeful that other companies in the country will follow the footsteps of Digitec.

"We consider it a big step for merchant adoption in Switzerland," Betschart told CryptoSlate, emphasizing that it could create a signal for others to accept cryptocurrencies in the near future.

Biggest online shop of Switzerland starts accepting #Bitcoin!https://t.

"Having a huge local Bitcoin Community also makes it an attractive market additional to the marketing benefits. Also, Digitec is part of Migros, the biggest retail company in Switzerland, which also owns a bank, the biggest number of gyms, gas stations, etc. Hopefully those will follow."

In January, Rakuten, the biggest e-commerce platform in Japan, officially disclosed its official plans to overhaul the corporate structure of the company.

Rakuten laid out its decision to include everybody's bitcoin Inc., a cryptocurrency exchange it acquired in 2018 reportedly for $2 million, under Rakuten Payment, Inc. Local analysts suggested that the move could lead the cryptocurrency division of the company to better communicate and directly cooperate with the Rakuten Payment team.

In the case of Rakuten, when the company acquired everybody's bitcoin, strategists said that it was likely to integrate the infrastructure of the exchange to accept cryptocurrency payments in the future.

Apart from Rakuten, Bic Camera-the largest electronics retailer in Japan-has been accepting BTC for many months and in mid-2018, it revealed that it has seen an increase in sales processed by BTC with local users.

"When Bic Camera first installed the Bitcoin payment system in its stores, we expected that the customers paying in Bitcoin would mostly be foreigners. We noticed that Bitcoin was becoming very popular. Then the government announced that Bitcoin was officially legal, so we finally felt more comfortable introducing Bitcoin as a method of payment in our stores," Masanari Matsumoto, Bic Camera's PR and IR Chief, told Bitcoin.com.