Convenience-store retailers today face rising costs from credit card fees and competition for customers’ attention. Finding faster, cheaper payment options that also drive customer loyalty is critical for c-store retailers, said Doug Kantor (pictured left), general counsel of NACS, during the 2025 NACS Show in Chicago.
One potential solution: accepting stablecoins, a form of digital money that could reduce fees and increase flexibility, said Michael Curry (pictured second from right), principal of stablecoin solutions at Spendcodes, a stablecoin point-of-sale (POS) company.
Stablecoins are a type of digital money designed to keep its value steady, usually equal to one U.S. dollar. Unlike bitcoin, its price doesn’t jump up and down. Americans might use stablecoins for quick, low-cost online payments, sending money across borders or trading cryptocurrencies without worrying about big price swings. It’s like digital cash to send and use on the internet.
For c-stores, stablecoin transactions can be quicker and cheaper than credit cards, due to swipe fees, which can be around 2% to 3% per transaction. At more than $187 billion, credit and debit card interchange fees reached another new record last year, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
As digital payments evolve, stablecoins are becoming more accessible, especially with the rise of mobile devices, said Curry.
Mobile devices are everywhere, which is great for stablecoin adoption, Curry said.
About 90% of adults in the U.S. own a smartphone with internet access. Of those, 90% use eight to nine apps daily, including financial apps, he said.
Additionally, 71% of merchants plan to switch their current POS systems to software-based POS systems that run on mobile devices instead of traditional cash registers, according to a survey from PYMNTS.com, a financial services data company based in Boston.
“The reason why is because [smartphone are] ubiquitous, they're affordable, they're accessible, they're familiar,” Curry said. “You can be a 16-year-old in your first job using it, and you can be a 50-year-old manager [using it].”
As convenience-store retailers transition to software-based POS systems, customers can pay with stablecoins because stablecoin transfers happen via smartphones, which can send and receive these payments.
Curry recommended that retailers try to send and receive stablecoins personally first, without investing in extra services, so they can really understand how it works. He said that soon, new tools will appear that make using stablecoins even simpler and more practical for everyday sales.
One major convenience‑store chain in the U.S. that accepts cryptocurrencies is Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz. The chain partnered with Flexa to enable payments with bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and stablecoins at more than 750 locations. In August, the chain held a deal where customers paying with cryptocurrency could get half off their purchase.
How c-stores can enable cryptocurrency use
Stablecoins could be added as a payment method to a convenience store’s branded digital wallet, Lou Morsberger (pictured right), founder of Payments Strategy Consulting, based in Washington, D.C., said in the session. That way, stablecoins can sit alongside traditional payment methods, like credit cards and loyalty programs within a customer’s digital wallet.
“I think digital wallet is one of the key enabling technologies that's out there now and more affordable if you don't already have a merchant-branded app and or a merchant-branded wallet with different tender [payment] types in it,” he said.
When a retailer combines a digital wallet with low-cost payment options—like stablecoins, prepaid gift cards, pay-by-bank services or other methods linked directly to bank accounts—and integrates these with a loyalty program, it creates a powerful “trifecta,” Morsberger said.
“All of that becomes much easier once you've got the app and the wallet, you layer those in with the loyalty program, whether it's cents-off-per-gallon or it's an offer to get folks into the store,” Morsberger said.
This way, the retailer not only saves money on payment processing fees but also boosts sales by encouraging more customer visits.
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