This online shop highlights the advantages of crypto payments and may trigger a revolution in e-commerce.

The Bitcoin white paper published over a decade ago described a decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) electronic cash system, suggesting that the cryptocurrency was designed as a means of exchange. However, it has gradually deviated from that status due to its high volatility, scalability issues and transaction fees that made micropayments unfeasible.

The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has been used as a store of value instead. Nevertheless, what Bitcoin did was show the way and open up an opportunity for the boom of blockchain projects that the space is currently seeing. Many of these seek to improve Bitcoin’s limitations by adopting more elastic consensus mechanisms like proof-of-stake, new features such as smart contracts and innovative solutions to address volatility, such as stablecoins.

Today, digital currencies are ready to take e-commerce by storm and fulfill Bitcoin’s original intent to act as a means of exchange. Layer-2 solutions like the Lightning Network make Bitcoin suitable for payments, including micropayments.

Crypto payment gateway Coingate reported that payments in crypto had surged 60% in 2022 compared to the previous year, with payments processed through the Lightning Network nearly doubling.

The time when digital currencies are ubiquitous in e-commerce is just around the corner. There are many factors accelerating crypto adoption across e-commerce, and one of them relates to online shops dedicated to crypto users. One example is Uquid, which has built an ecosystem that brings decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 features to e-commerce.

The platform lists about 120 million physical, digital and NFT products that can be purchased with dozens of digital currencies through a wide range of payment options, including BinancePay and the Lightning Network. It also provides its proprietary payment solution, Uquid Payin3, which enables users to split their basket into three separate payments spread across three months with no interest.

Uquid has been working on a new concept that may strengthen its position in the e-commerce industry. The new feature is The Alpha $1 Shop, a convenient online store where users can purchase day-to-day items priced at $1 or less. This will be the first such store in the crypto e-commerce space. Alpha is the sub-brand of Uquid, and it is also used to name its other successful products, such as Alpha Mobile Top-Up and Alpha Game Store, both of which are listed on Binance and Gate.io.