Solana Joins Forces with Shopify for USDC Payments 

Solana Pay has partnered with Shopify to enable USDC payments, simplifying online shopping and reducing transaction costs for millions of businesses.

Solana Pay, a new way to pay online, has teamed up with Shopify, a popular platform for online stores. This partnership means millions of businesses can now use Solana Pay to accept payments. Launched in February 2022, Solana Pay is built using Solana’s blockchain, a kind of secure digital ledger.

They have chosen USDC, a digital version of the dollar, as their first payment option. This makes sense because many businesses and shoppers already trust and use digital dollars. Solana Pay might add other digital currencies like SOL and BONK later on.

With Shopify powering 10% of all online shopping in the U.S., this partnership is a big deal. The Solana blockchain already has 11.5 million active accounts, and big names in the crypto world have adopted Solana Pay.

Cutting Costs and Making Shopping Easier

What’s great about this partnership is how it can save money. Credit cards usually charge businesses between 1.5% and 3.5% for every sale. Solana Pay cuts this fee down to nearly nothing. A payment on Solana’s system costs just $0.00025 – that’s a tiny fraction of a cent.

In the past, Solana has faced issues with their system going down, but they’ve been working hard to fix this. In the last three months, they’ve had no downtime. This is good news for businesses and shoppers alike. Shopify has also recently launched its own credit card for businesses, showing their focus on payments.

Rewarding Shoppers with Loyalty Programs

Besides saving money, Solana Pay and Shopify are making shopping more fun. They’re letting stores set up loyalty programs very easily. When you buy something and pay with Solana Pay, you might get a special digital token. If you come back and shop again, you can get a discount. It’s like a modern version of a stamp card at your local coffee shop.

Some cool online brands like Helius, Mad Lads, and MonkeDAO are already planning to use Solana Pay in their stores. If you have a digital wallet like Phantom, Solflare, or Glow, you can connect it to the plugin.

Shopify is already friends with the world of digital money. Back in February, they added tools to help businesses work with digital money. They’ve partnered with other payment companies like Coinbase Commerce, Strike, Crypto.com, and BitPay.

Josh Fried from Solana Foundation thinks their system is perfect for making payments easier. Without banks in the way, payments are faster and simpler. Imagine not having to wait for your payment to go through at a store or online – that’s the future Solana Pay and Shopify are building.