Sheetz to Accept Cryptocurrencies In-Store and at the Pump

27/05/21

CSP Daily News

ALTOONA, Pa. — Convenience-store retailer Sheetz Inc. will be enabling digital currency payments via Flexa, a digital payments network, to provide customers with the ability to pay for items inside the store or fill up their vehicles at the pump using digital currencies such as bitcoin, ether, litecoin, dogecoin and more.

“Above all else, our mission at Sheetz is to continue providing our customers with the ultimate one-stop shop where they can refuel their car and refresh their body. As a result, we are constantly innovating and exploring new offerings to truly give our customers what they want, when they want it, 24/7/365—that includes accepting many forms of payment. We’re very excited to be working with Flexa to roll out support for cryptocurrencies and other types of digital assets at our stores,” said Linda Smith, payments manager for Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz.

Sheetz will begin accepting digital currencies using Flexa’s payments technology at select Sheetz Cafe Stores later this summer with a planned rollout later in the year for acceptance at Sheetz’s fuel pumps as well. Sheetz currently operates 622 stores in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland. Sheetz customers will also have the option to link their My Sheetz Rewardz loyalty account when paying with Flexa-enabled apps.

“With interest in digital currencies reaching all-time highs, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there are real, tangible benefits for the merchants who accept them—not only reduced fraud and cost savings, but also a better and more mobile customer experience,” said Trevor Filter, co-founder of Flexa. “Sheetz is one of the most forward-thinking brands in the business and understands their customer base better than anyone else. We’re absolutely elated that Flexa can help them become the first convenience and retail chain to accept digital currencies directly at the pump.”

To enable Flexa’s authorization process for digital currency payments, Sheetz turned to NCR, its point-of-sale (POS) technology partner. “Connecting through the existing POS solution to the NCR payment gateway enables retailers to quickly integrate new solutions making it easy to introduce new innovations enabled by digital currencies. Retailers benefit through increased loyalty, lower transaction fees and reduced fraud while improving convenience and choice for shoppers,” said Tim Vanderham, chief technology officer of NCR.

NCR Corp., based in Atlanta, is a software- and services-led enterprise provider in the financial, retail and hospitality industries.

New York-based Flexa specializes in digital payments, providing merchants and developers with integrations for digital currency acceptance. Founded in 2018, Flexa’s mission is to make payments more efficient and accessible for people all over the world, it said.