Bithumb, korean crypto exchange, is starting the retail kiosk business to speed up crypto implementation in the country. These order-taking and payment facilitating kiosks will be placed in restaurants and cafes for clients to browse menus, place orders and pay for food. Cryptocurrency will be among the payment types.
Bithumb’s New Venture
Bithumb, one of S. Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, declared on Wednesday that it is launching the “Touch B” brand and entering into the kiosk business. Characterizing a kiosk as an unmanned order and payment system, Yonhap elaborated:
“Bithumb has agreed to supply kiosks to food and beverage franchise stores, small restaurants, and cafes under the brand Touch B, in partnership with kiosk manufacturers.”
“The entry into the kiosk business is meaningful to provide substantial benefits and low-cost rents to small business owners,” Bithumb was quoted by Zdnet Korea. “We will continue to work in various industries based on the blockchain technology…to provide total solutions for small businesses through our partnership.”
The Kiosk Culture in Korea
Ordering food using kiosks is quite popular in S. Korea. Last month Bithumb partnered with a number of kiosk producers, including Unos Pay, Tros Systems, and I’m U “to supply kiosks optimized for small businesses that operate food and beverage franchises, small restaurants, and cafes,” the publication says.
Apart from this, the exchange plans to charge a rental fee that is 10% below the industry rate for kiosks. “This will help SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] reduce costs, increase sales and provide efficient store operations,” the publication described, adding that:
“The kiosk is a multimedia device that combines touch screen, graphics and communication functions. It is an unmanned information guidance system that provides efficient information to users…and simplified payment.”
Moreover, Bithumb plans for the kiosks to take cryptocurrency as one of the payment variants. The exchange believes that the kiosk business will build a synergy among all of its proposals.
