{"id":969,"date":"2026-06-12T16:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=969"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:41:16","slug":"crypto-and-alternative-payments-could-open-new-revenue-doors-for-acquirers-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paymentconsulting.net\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=969","title":{"rendered":"Crypto and Alternative Payments Could Open New Revenue Doors for Acquirers, Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/i>Kevin Woodward<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>June 12, 2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/i>Acquiring<\/a>,\u00a0Competitive Strategies<\/a>,\u00a0Credit Cards<\/a>,\u00a0Debit Cards<\/a>,\u00a0Digital Currency<\/a>,\u00a0E-Commerce<\/a>,\u00a0Mobile Wallets<\/a>,\u00a0Point-of-sale<\/a>,\u00a0Pricing<\/a>,\u00a0Transaction Processing<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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With large payments companies beginning to incorporate cryptocurrency and alternative payment methods into their processing flows, the opportunity for sales agents and their acquirers to sell another payment-acceptance method is growing. That\u2019s the takeaway from a panel discussion this week at the Southeast Acquirers Association conference in Miami Beach, Fla.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades, the payments industry has always been primarily focused on traditional credit and debit acceptance,\u201d Mark Standfield, chief strategy officer at AltoPay, a Miami-based payments provider, said. \u201cGlobally, we\u2019re now seeing \u2026 alternative payment methods. This includes real-time payments, digital wallets, stablecoins, and cryptocurrency.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Both of the largest card brands, Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc., have made crypto forays. Mastercard has added settlement windows and alone runs more than 100 card programs globally that link to stablecoins. It moved deeper into the digital currency with its agreement in March to acquire\u00a0BVNK<\/strong><\/a>, a London-based stablecoin platform, for $1.8 billion.\u00a0Visa<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0this week said it is working on tokenized deposits that could enable banks to convert traditional deposits into digital money,\u00a0Digital Transactions News<\/em>\u00a0reported Thursday.<\/p>\n

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And several entities launched their own\u00a0stablecoins<\/a><\/strong>, including\u00a0PayPal Holdings Inc.<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Fiserv Inc.<\/a><\/strong>, and\u00a0MoneyGram<\/a><\/strong>, with\u00a0Shift4 Payments Inc.<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0launching a stablecoin-settlement platform in 2025.<\/p>\n

Though consumer use of cryptocurrency and alternative payment methods may not be anywhere near the volume of credit and debit card payment activity, it is viewed as a burgeoning aspect.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween the international travelers coming here who want to use their native payment methods, and the sheer volume of wealth Americans hold in crypto, it has become a necessity,\u201d panelist Chris Benabu, chief growth officer and cofounder of\u00a0Suede<\/a><\/strong>, told attendees. \u201cMerchants need to accept these rails because that is where the money is. People have money in checking accounts, but they also have money in crypto and APMs. It\u2019s just another essential tool that should exist in a merchant\u2019s ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Technical issues that once plagued the integration of new payment methods have diminished with the use of application programming interface coding that lets disparate software platforms exchange data securely. To accept a cryptocurrency at an in-store checkout, a merchant need only make a QR code available for the crypto consumers to scan.<\/p>\n

Acquirers and sales agents can help educate merchants about this option and others, says Jay Sykes, founder and chief executive of Bead Pay Inc., a Dover, Del.-based alternative-payments provider.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrypto is not new,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cBitcoin arrived on the scene in 2009, primarily as a peer-to-peer cash system born during a period of very low confidence in traditional financial systems. Why was adoption historically slow? It came down to a lack of understanding. Merchants won\u2019t accept what they don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrency<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0use, however, has grown in the ensuing 17 years, he said. Between 50 million and 60 million U.S. consumers own crypto, Sykes said. \u201cTo put that into perspective, about 70 million Americans hold an American Express card, and around 50 million have a Discover card. These users aren\u2019t coming down the line\u2014they are already here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any participant in a new payment method has to have an incentive to use it. For consumers, that typically is ease of use and faster payments. For merchants, it means the potential to get new customers and reduce payment-processing fees. For\u00a0acquirers<\/strong><\/a>, it means more revenue.<\/p>\n

Sykes said many alternative payment methods, including cryptocurrency, often have lower processing fees than traditional credit and debit payments. \u201cTraditional merchant acquisition focused almost exclusively on credit and debit cards,\u201d he said. \u201cIntroducing these alternative rails serves as a legitimate\u00a0customer-acquisition tool for the merchant. You aren\u2019t just lowering their cost per transaction, you are introducing entirely new transactions from customers who otherwise wouldn\u2019t have shopped there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In most instances, the pricing models and agent residuals for these payment products are designed to match those of the traditional card-processing infrastructure, said Gustavo Jimenez, chief executive and cofounder of North Miami, Fla.-based Blokko.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should view this as an incremental, high-value capability\u2014much like adding a proprietary gift card program or a loyalty solution that directly drives top-line revenue for the business,\u201d Jimenez said. \u201cBecause the reporting and financial models are identical to what merchants are used to, it removes operational fear. It makes it easy to explain, easy to digest, and highly lucrative for the agent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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