Spanish telecom giant Telefónica has finally enabled crypto-specific purchases on its Tu.com marketplace. The $19-billion company has partnered with Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me to kickstart this initiative. Telefónica’s partnership with the local exchange was first reported by CoinDesk.
The development shows that more global companies are recognizing the crypto-specific clientele with each passing day and hence diversifying their payment options. Also, adopting crypto for payments isn’t Telefónica’s first digital rodeo. The company already has a Polygon-based NFT marketplace in action with built-in MetaMask integration. Besides this, the company has recently partnered with Qualcomm, with plans to foray into the metaverse via an AR platform that is already in the works.
Telefónica has been posting about metaverse from its official Twitter handle:
The social and ethical challenges of the #metaverse
✍️ @chemaalonso, @yrubiosec and @vrbenjamins address this issue #TelefónicaMetaverseDayhttps://t.co/7iAz8OFUHO pic.twitter.com/EGib1NfAZZ
— Telefónica (@Telefonica_En) September 29, 2022
Telefónica’s technology marketplace Tu.com has activated crypto-specific payments using Bit2Me’s built-in payment functionality. With an NFT marketplace, Metaverse plans, and now crypto payments in play— Telefónica looks all set to aggressively join the Web 3.0 bandwagon.
However, Telefónica’s love for the blockchain technology goes back to 2019, when the telecom giant ran a pilot blockchain-powered marketplace for its users.
