When it comes to SHIB payments, NOWPayments was among the first companies to support Shiba Inu transactions. The cryptocurrency payment gateway rolled out SHIB support for its merchants earlier this year, before Shiba's recent popularity boom.
Since then, other payment systems have followed. AMC will roll out SHIB support next year using BitPay. More SHIB adoption - whether through Kraken or Robinhood - is touted as coming soon, but for NOWPayments, it’s already a reality.
PlanetCrypto spoke to NOWPayments about its decision to support Shiba Inu payments.
Why NOWPayments Supports SHIB
For NOWPayments, their SHIB partnership reflects a shared “global mission”, which is “to bring cryptocurrencies into the world around us”.
“We at NOWPayments always admired that SHIB has a strong vision and a plan,” it said.
However, the ShibArmy also played a vital role in its acceptance of SHIB. “We love how vital and dedicated ShibArmy is,” NOWPayments said. “More and more people wanted to accept SHIB payments, and our excitement rose with that, so it was inevitable.”
Since NOWPayments began accepting SHIB, the community has welcomed the company. “Our replies are full of warm comments, fan art, hashtags, and people are bursting with energy,” it said.
However, it isn’t all just fun and memes, especially with the ShibArmy distancing itself from the ‘memecoin’ description. NOWPayments described the ShibArmy as “a community that understands the importance of SHIB use cases”, which gives merchants that accept SHIB an “engagement boom”.
Aside from the community, NOWPayments has received support from the Shiba development team, including Project Volunteer Lead Shytoshi Kusama. “It is a great pleasure and honour to have a ‘partnerSHIB' with such an enthusiastic crew,” it said. “Their passion and vision extend to us, too.”
Use-cases are not the only thing the Shiba community is passionate about. In the last month, community SHIB burns have taken off. Whether it's through a SHIB burning party, a mobile game’s ad revenue, or through selling SHIB-branded coffee, the ShibArmy is on a mission to remove SHIB from circulation. For NOWPayments, this is equally important.
“Our primary corporate value is to deeply understand the specifics of each coin and each community - this is the only way to maintain a great partnership,” it said. “Just like ShibArmy understands the importance of different use cases for Shiba Inu, we love and respect SHIB’s vision, where burning is crucial.”
NOWPayments burns 3% of its profits coming from SHIB and LEASH transactions. The company said the first burn will take place at the end of November.
As for the future of SHIB, NOWPayments has hopes for global adoption, spurred on by lower fees and fast transactions through the Shibarium Layer-2.
“We root for the future where any store - online or brick-and-mortar - can easily accept SHIB, LEASH, and BONE and therefore bring mass adoption closer,” NOWPayments said.
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