You can invest in cryptocurrency. You can make charitable donations using cryptocurrency. And now, increasingly, you can use it to safely pay for everyday items in your shopping cart—worldwide.
This week, TNC IT Group launched its Buyaladdin app, creating a virtual shopping mall that facilitates digital currency as a way to pay. This app allows consumers to make their purchases using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, establishing a new way to bring together shoppers and retailers. Generating a lot of buzz across the industry, this app helps make crypto easier to use and apply, doing the work in overcoming some of the most critical barriers to adoption. We were fortunate to catch CTO Stanley Park in the midst of the launch, and he answered our questions about what the launch means for consumers and retailers alike.
BitIRA: Crypto’s been around for about a decade now. Why are more businesses not already accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment? What obstacles currently stand in the way of its acceptance?
Stanley: We don’t see any obstacles, at least not from the consumer side of things. What we have seen is that the regulations in their current form sometimes stop people from doing business using cryptocurrency as a payment.
Some countries accept cryptocurrency, whereas it’s still illegal in others.
BitIRA: Do you ever see any consumer skepticism or hesitation surrounding cryptocurrency?
Stanley: From the consumer perspective, it’s not about the cryptocurrency itself. People are hesitant to use cryptocurrency because they worry they might be doing something illegal when countries are not accepting cryptocurrency as a legal payment.
BitIRA: From the consumer side of things, what specific features should people take note of so they can know that they can trust Buyaladdin?
Stanley: There isn’t a major difference between using our app and using, say, Amazon, eBay, or other major retailers. We have our own tech to implement these online retailers on our application. When users use this, they pay directly to retailers within a secure environment.
BitIRA: What criteria do you use to select companies to participate in Buyaladdin and join the Aladdin Shopping Mall?
Stanley: We selected the shopping malls based on the top five retailers in different countries. Later in the future, we’re looking to grow into implementing the top ten online retailers in the top hundred countries around the world.
BitIRA: Buyaladdin is pioneering an updated shopping experience. Competition will only become more intense. What is being done, long-term, to ensure integrity among all vendors without a governing body intervening with regulation? In other words, how do you keep corruption off the scene?
Stanley: We have used our tech to implement other retailers on our app and as of now in technical perspective and in technical sense, nothing is out of the regulations. We are bringing many more users to online retailers.
We will be proceeding with making further alliances with the retailers. We believe that we will benefit the retailers by bringing more users to them.
