Solana Pay, the decentralized payment app developed by Solana Labs, has been added as an option for companies that use the leading e-commerce platform Shopify.
That means the millions of businesses that use Shopify can offer customers Solana Pay as a payment option. Its initial integration will feature USDC – the second-largest stablecoin with a $25.9 billion market capitalization, according to CoinGecko.
“Some people argue the killer app for crypto hasn’t arrived, but it has: it’s payments,” Josh Fried, business development and partnerships at Solana Foundation, told TechCrunch. “[Everyone] should be doubling down on this.”
Fried emphasized that this choice was deliberate. Given USDC's close tie to the U.S. dollar and its regulatory compliance compared to other coins, it stands as an attractive option for merchants and consumers alike. That said, the protocol will consider incorporating additional cryptocurrencies like the network's native SOL token and BONK, a doge-themed meme coin, in the future.
USDC issuer Circle has already directly embraced Solana Pay, as has the popular Solana wallet Phantom, and the payment processor Checkout.com.
Compared to credit card processing fees which can cost as high as 3.5% per transaction, Fried said Solana Pay is effectively “fee-free.” According to Solana Beach, transactions cost roughly 0.000005 SOL at writing time, worth fractions of a penny.
The integration also lets merchants establish creative loyalty programs, including innovative systems like NFT loyalty tokens. For example, customers making repeat purchases through Solana Pay could receive discounts or other rewards.
Several crypto-focused teams and brands, including Helius, Mad Lads, and MonkeDAO, are already on board to integrate Solana Pay into their Shopify storefronts.
Shopify contributes to 10% of total U.S. e-commerce and facilitates economic activity worth $444 billion worldwide. The platform is itself no stranger to crypto, having integrated Strike for Bitcoin lightning network payments last year, alongside other platforms like Coinbase Commerce and Bitpay.
Though a faster and cheaper layer 1 blockchain than both Bitcoin and Ethereum, Solana is notorious for encountering multiple network outages. That said, the network has experienced zero downtime since February.