You can now buy your fiancée a diamond ring with Bitcoin, and the jeweler never has to see a single Satoshi.
That’s the quietly disruptive premise behind a new wave of crypto payment platforms like PDX Beam, which are turning what was once a speculative asset into something far more mundane: a way to pay for everyday things. Crypto is moving out of the shadows of finance and into the heart of commerce, and it is doing so without dragging merchants into the volatility and risk that’s long made them hesitate.
From Token to Transaction
Crypto’s retail potential has been discussed for years, but the last 12 months have changed the stakes. Bitcoin has reached new highs, financial institutions like Goldman Sachs are piling in, and the U.S. government is laying the groundwork for a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment. Add to that a consumer base of 65 million Americans who now own digital assets, and a striking 80% who say they’d like to spend them on daily purchases.
But interest hasn’t always translated to adoption. “Merchants cannot be mandated to hold crypto accounts,” said Shane Rodgers, CEO of PDX Global, the company behind PDX Beam. “The crypto scene is indeed volatile, and the risk should stay with the crypto-holder, not the merchant.”
PDX Beam, currently in beta, offers a bridge between those two worlds. The platform integrates with any point-of-sale (POS) system, allowing merchants to accept crypto while settling instantly in cash.
“Using PDX Beam as a payment option sidesteps the antiquated MC/VISA card system that requires merchants to pay, in some cases, as much as 7% in interchange fees, and wait anywhere from two to eight days for settlement,” Rodgers said. “With our platform, merchants never hold, see or touch the crypto, so there is zero exposure and zero risk — the conversion happens internally within PDX.”
Luxury, Fast Food, and Everything In Between
PDX Beam’s beta rollout is already underway with a mix of users. Rodgers says more than a dozen retailers, including luxury car dealerships and diamond shops, are starting to use the platform. The company will be undertaking a pilot with an international fast-food chain across ten stores in the Miami-Dade area.
It’s not just small-scale. A $7.5 billion institution just signed on to and expects to process over $60 million annually through PDX Beam, and a private equity firm is onboarding its portfolio of retail businesses onto the system.
Rodgers believes this is just the beginning. “Now there is a way to turn those digital assets from speculative investments to utility. Today you could actually buy dinner, tickets, and sports gear using crypto,” he said.
Why Merchants Are Finally Paying Attention
The economics are hard to ignore. For standard credit card transactions, 3–4% is typical. With razor-thin margins, merchants are looking for ways to lower costs.
PDX Beam slashes transaction fees in half or more and deposits fiat directly into merchant bank accounts, usually within 15 seconds. It also dramatically reduces the risk of chargeback fraud thanks to blockchain’s inherent transparency.
Beyond the bottom line, crypto payment options are attracting new customers. According to Capital One, 40% of customers who use crypto are new to the retailer, and their transaction values are twice that of traditional credit card users. A Deloitte study found that 85% of merchants believe crypto payments can help them reach new audiences.
And those audiences are growing. The National Cryptocurrency Association reports that one in five U.S. adults now owns crypto. Of those, 39% spend it to pay for goods and services, and nearly 10% use it every day.
Quietly Reshaping Retail
The shift is subtle but significant. “We make it easy for hundreds of millions of crypto holders worldwide to participate in the crypto economy and bring digital assets more fully into the mainstream,” Rodgers said.
Unlike many early solutions that required proprietary hardware or locked merchants into a single payment ecosystem, PDX Beam is deliberately open. “It can’t be a proprietary solution,” Rodgers added. “Crypto conversion payment platforms that only integrate with a certain POS create a captive market that can trap the merchant if he/she decides to make a shift. What’s needed is an open system.”
PDX Beam’s architecture is built entirely on blockchain rails, eliminating traditional banking intermediaries. No banks, no multi-day waiting periods, and no foreign exchange headaches. For merchants, it’s just business as usual, only faster, cheaper, and with a tech-savvy customer base at the door.
Crypto is finally making real headway as a form of payment. Tools like PDX Beam are gaining traction and it’s clear the infrastructure is falling into place, not just for buying Lamborghinis, but for lattes too.
