The adoption of cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-based services continues to gain ground, with an increasing number of companies bridging the gap between conventional financial solutions (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions.

Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, and Ingenico, a provider of credit card processing services, jointly announced on February 22 the start of a new pilot program that enables in-store cryptocurrency payments using Binance Pay. Currently, the beta version of this service can only be accessed through Ingenico Axium payment terminals located in France.

The statement claims that the app supports more than fifty different cryptocurrencies. Initially, payments to merchants will be made using a cryptocurrency. However, in the second quarter of 2023, a crypto-to-fiat solution is scheduled to be piloted that will allow businesses to accept payments in fiat currency.

Le Carlie and Miss Opéra, two merchants operating in the hospitality and retail industries respectively, are going online as part of the France test.

The next nations on the agenda for service expansion will be more European countries where Binance is a licensed cryptocurrency operator. Binance has been granted authorization to do business in the countries of France, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Sweden.

In order to start using cryptocurrency, in-store devices will often need some form of integration before they can be used. On the other hand, the new solution claims to be an “all-in-one” device, simplifying the onboarding process for both retailers and customers.

Binance Pay and Binance Card head Jonathan Lim referred to the all-in-one device as a “new method of approaching the market” and said it would “speed up access to customers.”

Binance has been working on a variety of global payment options over the course of the last year. It has just formed a partnership with Mastercard to provide a crypto prepaid card in Brazil, following a successful product launch in Argentina in August 2022.

Other companies have also made efforts to bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 payment systems. On February 10, the announcement was made of the cooperation between Bit2Me and Mastercard to introduce a debit card that offers bitcoin rewards.