Shiba Inu (SHIB) Adoption Gets a Boost With Flexa Payment Network Integration

The Manhattan-based digital payments company Flexa is helping to make crypto more mainstream, by capitalizing on the Shiba Inu mania that enveloped the crypto world in the latter half of 2021.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) will now be available as a payment option at over 40,000 merchants that are part of the Flexa Payment Network.

The Flexa Payment Network is a merchant-focused entity designed to simplify spending cryptocurrencies at physical merchants by simplifying the complexities of on-chain validation. To spend SHIB, customers can send SHIB into the SPEDN wallet on a smartphone application.

When the time for payment comes, SHIB must be selected as the cryptocurrency of choice and a “Flex Code” will appear on the screen. The merchant will then scan the Flex Code in a way similar to Apple Pay. The Flex Code will allow the merchant to receive payment in fiat via the Amp intermediary cryptocurrency, which acts as collateral for the transaction. Flexa then takes payment from the SPEDN wallet and deducts the amount from the selected cryptocurrency.

Some shops that are a part of the merchant network accepting Flex payments are Nordstrom, Barnes & Noble, Lowe’s, Gamestop, and Whole Foods.

Flexa pushing crypto payment adoption

Flexa added LUNA and TERRA on Dec 7, 2021, and Solana, on Dec 2, as payment options on the Flexa SPEDN app. Regal Cinemas recently partnered with Flexa to enable moviegoers to pay with various cryptocurrencies, including BTC, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Basic Attention Token. Payments in SHIB will get customers a 20% discount at Regal Cinemas until the end of 2021.

Flexa recently partnered with Bancoagricola, the largest financial institution in El Salvador, to accept bitcoin for loan and credit card repayments and merchant goods and services since bitcoin became legal tender on Sept 7, 2021.

In other news regarding mainstream adoption, AMC theaters have partnered with BitPay to accept SHIB. Newegg Commerce’s partnership with Bitpay allowed it to start accepting SHIB on Black Friday. According to BitPay’s Sonny Singh in early 2021, retail investors’ interest in altcoins was rising, and in late April 2021, payments in bitcoin dropped while DOGE payments started pumping.

Despite the popularity of SHIB, Robinhood still has not listed the token, despite a petition garnering over 500,000 signatures. Kraken listed SHIB on its platform from Nov 30, 2021, without futures or margin trading options.

Coinbase, Binance, Huobi Global, and MEXC Global are among the major exchanges that currently offer trading in SHIB. Binance leads the pack in terms of 24-hour trading volume, with SHIB sitting at $237.6 million.