MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – For decades, the main payment choices when going out have been cash or card, but now some businesses are offering cryptocurrencies as an option.
Prevail Coffee on Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue is the latest to take cryptocurrency payments. Founder Wade Preston says its not only more convenient for customer, but it also benefits his overseas suppliers.
“People can pay with cryptocurrency. They pay with a stable coin, so it’s just like a U.S. dollar. And when they do, a portion of every sale goes to one of our coffee-growing partners in Costa Rica,” Preston said.
The coffee shop hosted a panel discussion Wednesday that featured Preston, along with an official from cryptocurrency platform Coinbase, as well as state representatives from both political parties.
“The reason I think that there’s so much bipartisan support on this is that it economically can benefit so many people,” said state Rep. Phillip Ensler, a Democrat. “If they are able to access this other kind of currency, if they’re able to access this other kind of technology, it can mean more money in their pockets.”
Republican state Rep. Mike Shaw agrees. He first got into cryptocurrency more than a decade ago and says he has been able to see the journey of that technology over time.
“It will be interesting one day if AI and crypto merge a little bit. You’ll see something like that at some point in the next few years,” he said.
Shaw says the technology is relatively new, so many state lawmakers are still educating themselves on the issue.
“A lot of it’s just understanding it first. No legislator wants to pass something they don’t understand or they’re scared of,” said Shaw.
Republican U.S. House candidate Caroleene Dobson was also at the event. She says she has owned cryptocurrency for six years and spoke positively about it. Dobson is running for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.
According to officials, around 20% of Alabamians own cryptocurrency.
The question now is if the new payment method will stick around.
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