Philippine 7-Eleven Stores Now Selling Bitcoin

You may have heard of Abra, the cryptocurrency investment app. Well now, Abra has started selling crypto for cash in all 7-Eleven stores all over the Philippines with a new partnership with payment processor ECPay.

Going off an announcement published on 18th September by Abra, the partnership will introduce cryptocurrency to 6k retail outlets all across the Philippines, including all 7-Eleven stores. The firm says that the aim of the partnership is to make acquiring cryptocurrency easier.

“Using new digital tools that open up financial access shouldn’t be hard. And they shouldn’t be complicated. Moving cash to crypto and other digital assets should be simple and fast. That’s why we are really excited to announce our new partnership. It’s one more step towards making cryptocurrency use and investing simple and accessible to everyone.”

The collaboration with ECPay means that consumers in the Philippines will now be able to see Abra listed under the “Bills Payment” option choice at any CLIQQ ECPay financial services kiosk or in the mobile app. They are then able to deposit the money into their Abra wallet. 

However, it’s worth noting that the minimum deposit is PHP 500 ($9.59) whereas the daily limit is PHP 100,000 ($1,917).

When the transaction details were confirmed and the transaction with the cashier has been completed, the funds will be accredited in up to 2 working days.

As 7-eleven enters the crypto world, this paves the way for great adoption. The rise in the price and popularity of cryptocurrencies has been often accompanied by an increase of general interest by big institutional investors. At the end of 2017, we saw a lot more people enter the market who probably never even heard of cryptocurrency and get involved with the space. Given that the Philippines is a big place for crypto, this could potentially be a big move for the firm.