Telefònica, Spain’s leading telecommunications and technology products company, has announced that it will be possible to pay for its services in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies are experiencing their period of maximum expansion, an expansion that is the result of the difficulties encountered around the world with the loss of value of fiat currencies and their atavistic problems, of a technology that makes them attractive, of the possibilities they offer, and of practicality that is constantly improving.
More and more companies worldwide are adopting payment systems in Bitcoin and altcoins in general, given the speed of transactions achieved nowadays and especially the often deflationary nature of these.
Spain: Telefònica embraces Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency world
Spain’s largest telecommunications company, Telefònica, recently decided to accept payments in Bitcoin and other digital currencies, effectively opening its horizons to the future and its possibilities.
JUST IN:
Spain’s largest telecommunications company, Telefónica, is now accepting #Bitcoin and #crypto for technology products.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) September 29, 2022
On Tu.com, it will now be possible to pay with digital gold (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies to purchase products on the technology market or for communication services offered by the company.
Bit2Me, now a major player in the world of digital cryptocurrency exchange platforms and other related financial instruments, as well as the first exchange company by volume in the Iberian Peninsula, is the company behind Telefònica’s cryptocurrency upgrade.
Through Bit2Me, in fact, it is now possible to make payments in Bitcoin and other altcoins on the website, as mentioned earlier, and other implementations will soon be announced by the communications company itself with a press conference and related official release.
Bit2Me is not the only company bringing Telefònica into the future; it is news this week that Qualcomm (a U.S. telecommunications research and development company based in San Diego, California) is working with the Spanish company to bring the Spanish network into the Metaverse.
In this regard, in a statement, Telefònica highlighted the event with these words:
“This agreement opens up the opportunity to offer new experiences to customers by combining the digital and analog world, reinventing commerce, entertainment and communication in the Metaverse.”
That underscores and gives the figure of the Spanish company’s great commitment to a transformation process that will lead it to become the Telefònica to come.
Not only cryptocurrency and Metaverse, but Telefònica also does not disdain the Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, which have become a very strong trend and a tool of great artistic and factual value.
Earlier this year, the Iberian company also started a project with Polygon (Ethereum-based gaming and entertainment blockchain whose cryptocurrency is called MATIC) to develop Web3 solutions and allow interested companies to easily issue Non-Fungible Tokens from their platform in full OpenSea style.
More and more industries are entering the Web3
As also explained at the beginning of this article, the option to pay for a product or service in cryptocurrency is a trend that companies of all kinds from all corners of the earth are now joining on the agenda.
Whether high-fashion brands, automotive, or a simple mojito, as in the case of El Salvador, which has adopted Bitcoin as its currency on par with the U.S. dollar, paying in Bitcoin and associates is becoming increasingly common and easy.
In May, for example, Gucci, the prominent Italian fashion house, introduced the ability to pay with Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum in its branded stores.
Balenciaga, following in the footsteps of its Italian haute couture counterpart, has opened up to digital currencies by approving payments in BTC and ETH but only in a few specific stores. Nevertheless, the service may be expanded to all stores if this pilot project is successful.
Not just fashion. Chipotle, a Mexican food chain, has announced the ability to pay in any of its eateries in any cryptocurrency.
The restaurant chain launched an ad hoc Ethereum-themed promotion to mark the successful Merge this month.
With the transformation from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake, Buterin’s digital currency will no longer rely on mining but on staking, improving ETH’s energy impact by 99.95%.
Chipotle has taken the opportunity to promote its ETH steak; in essence, at its restaurants, it will be possible to consume a good steak and pay for it in ETH, but payment will not be made by matching the value of the dish tout court, but rather by paying 99.95% less precisely in honor of Ethereum’s shift from proof of work to proof of Stake.
The promotion will be temporary for obvious supply and cost reasons for the company, but it says a lot about this company’s openness to the world of digital currencies and its desire to go green in the world.
Finally, institutions have also opened up to this world, and the most exciting example is that of the Wharton business school.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1881 by Joseph Wharton for “imparting a free education in all fields of finance and economics” (what we now call financial education) to the American people and beyond, has recently approved payments in Bitcoin to access the education offered and its master’s programs both state and private.
The road to making Bitcoin a worldwide currency or at least a widespread payment piece everywhere is still a long one. Still, these stories, like Telefònica’s, give hope that more and more service companies and companies that sell products may open up to this practice in the future.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, in general, will be the currency of the future, and we are already on the road to this, a road made up of stages like today’s story from the Spanish telecommunications company.
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