International grocery chain Spar pilots Bitcoin payments in Switzerland

Spar, an international grocery chain, has begun accepting Bitcoin in a Swiss store, potentially paving the way for wider crypto adoption across its global retail network.

In its April 17 LinkedIn post, DFX Swiss, a company which offers crypto-to-cash solutions, announced that the Spar location in the Swedish city of Zug has officially gone live on BTC Map — a platform tracking businesses worldwide that accept Bitcoin (BTC). DFX Swiss has enabled this payment system using a new tool called OpenCryptoPay.

“This SPAR location is among the first supermarkets in Switzerland where you can pay directly at the checkout using Bitcoin (via LNURL), thanks to our new #OpenCryptoPay solution – an open P2P standard for in-person crypto payments,” the company wrote.

Customers can pay with BTC via the Lightning Network, which involves scaning a QR code at checkout. In a LinkedIn post, Rahim Taghizadegan, director of the Bitcoin Association Switzerland, shared a video demonstrating just how simple it is to pay with BTC at Spar.

If the pilot in Zug proves successful, Spar could expand Bitcoin payments across Switzerland — or potentially roll it out globally. That would mark a huge milestone for crypto adoption, given Spar’s massive footprint of over 13,900 stores in 48 countries, serving 14.7 million daily shoppers and employing 450K people worldwide.

In accepting BTC at its stores, Spar joins a series of other supermarket and retail chains around the world that have experimented with or successfully adopted Bitcoin payments.

In the Netherlands, a Spar location in Arnhem began accepting BTC back in 2014 as part of the “Bitcoincity” initiative.

In April 2023, Pick n Pay, one of South Africa’s largest supermarket chains, made headlines by rolling out BTC payments across all 1,600+ of its stores after a successful pilot program. Customers can pay using the Lightning Network, similar to Spar’s implementation in Zug, with shoppers reportedly spending over $50K in BTC monthly.

Major U.S. chains like Whole Foods and Starbucks have also dabbled in crypto payments through third-party apps like Spedn, which convert crypto to fiat at checkout.