Owners of Bitcoins, Dash, and Co can be excited. From this summer on they can spend their coins at more than 2,500 points of acceptance in Austria, using A1 Payment, provided the merchant has activated the feature.

This is made possible by a service of the Lower Austrian Fintech Salamantex, whose software has now been integrated into the A1 Payment offer. Merchants can use it to accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Dash instead of cash or credit card, but receive the amount paid out in euros, just as they are used to.

The system has proven itself in a test run lasting several months in selected A1 shops. This means in addition to debit and credit cards, there is now another simple and secure cashless payment alternative available that is oriented towards the needs of a digital generation.

Although Austria is traditionally a country with a high affinity for cash, the last few months have led to a mind shift after people were called upon by the government and retailers to primarily switch to cashless payment transactions as far as possible. With the integration of the Salamantex service software into the complete A1 Payment package, Austrian retailers can now offer another payment option
and thereby accept common cryptocurrencies. Regardless of the payment method used by the customer, the merchant receives the purchase price in euros and therefore does not incur any exchange rate or currency risk. The acceptance of these digital currencies is therefore just as easy and secure for merchants as credit card payments.

Merchants can order this innovative payment feature from A1 Payment and test it currently without activation costs. Orders will be activated within one week and then delivered with new, crypto-capable terminals.

Markus Pejacsevich, COO Salamantex, said: "Our goal is to make paying with digital currencies at the checkout as easy and natural as we have been used to with credit cards for decades. With A1, we have a partner for the Austria-wide rollout who, just like us, is convinced of this payment system of the future and works towards making payment with digital assets accessible to the broad masses. The acceptance of cryptocurrencies opens up new affluent customer groups and
enables merchants to position themselves as pioneers in their industry.
 
For Markus Schreiber, head of A1 business marketing, Salamantex is the ideal partner for the establishment of digital payments: "A1 Payment is the one-stop-shop for merchants who want to offer their customers a wide range of payment options and are looking for a strong and reliable partner for processing. By integrating the solution of Salamantex, we can now add the payment option with cryptocurrencies to our range of services. Security and reliability were our highest priorities both when selecting our partner and during the integration process."

Further roll-out of Salamantex services for digital payment in planning
Salamantex sees itself as a pioneer of payment with digital assets. The Crypto Payment Service Software developed by Salamantex is not an isolated solution, but designed to be integrated into existing payment processes. Partnerships with A1, as well as Ingenico or Concardis, enable a broad roll-out of the crypto payment service not only in Austria but in neighbouring countries as well. Just a few months ago Ingenico presented the first POS terminal with integrated crypto payment software from Salamantex at the Euro Shop trade fair in Germany.

Further collaborations with payment service providers are already being planned.
As part of the implementation of the 5th EU Money Laundering Directive, Salamantex was registered as a service provider for virtual currencies with the Financial Market Authority (FMA) this year, thus meeting all regulatory requirements and the highest security standards in this area.