Key Takeaways:
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Coffee shops, fast food chains like Starbucks and Sheetz and retailers like Microsoft and Home Depot accept crypto payments through apps and third-party processors.
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More and more platforms are gradually enabling the use of Bitcoin, ether and XRP for large-scale travel and airline reservations.
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Luxury brands, high-end car dealerships and real estate developers are incorporating crypto payments for premium goods and properties.
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Payment processors can make it simple for small businesses to accept crypto by instantly converting it to fiat currency and reducing compliance costs.
Cryptocurrencies are no longer ideas of the financial fringe. As of 2025, more and more businesses will embrace digital assets, especially Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (Eth) and xrp (XRP) – Both as payment options and strategic assets.
Why three? Each has strong brand recognition, decent liquidity and different strengths: BTC as a store-of-value, ETH with its smart contract ecosystem and XRP with fast cross-border settlements and payments. Together, they cover what businesses need: trust, functionality and speed.
This article will explore where BTC, ETH and XRP are used, from simple everyday purchases to large-scale airline integration.
Everyday crypto transactions: coffee shops, restaurants, retailers
For many crypto holders, the first real test is whether you can spend BTC, ETH or XRP like cash: a cup of coffee, a sandwich or groceries. XRP tends to lag behind BTC and ETH when it comes to day-to-day purchases: fewer small shops accept XRP directly, as its strength usually shows in back-end or cross-border payments rather than point-of-sale in cafes.
Coffee and snack shops
Today in 2025, paying for coffee with crypto is no longer some sci-fi fantasy. Many of the chains and indie spots have made it part of the daily grind. At Starbucks, for example, you can grab a bitrefill gift card and cover your caramel macchiato with ether or bitcoin.
Apps like Flexa’s Spedn Wallet, or even reloadable digital gift cards, make exchanging tokens for lattes easy.
Even convenience stores are in it. Sheetz Accepts bitcoin, ether and a few other coins at checkout. And if you’re more of an XRP Loyalist, directories like Cryptwerk point you to smaller foods that are happy to be tokens in tacos or burgers.
Restaurants and fast food places
Select McDonald’s outlets In crypto-hot zones accept Bitcoin through payment apps, enabling fast food payments with digital dollars.
In Europe and the US, major fast food chains such as Subway and Burger King continue to accept crypto payments, often through third-party gift card services or payment processors. While not a direct, home aggregation for every location, it is a simple way for consumers to spend their bitcoin.
Steak ‘n shake joined the party in May 2025. Chipotle and Baskin-Robbins are also on board, through the integration of Bitpay, where ETH, BTC or XRP funds your burrito bowl or scoop.
Retail stores and online
AT&T lets you settle phone bills with ETH or BTC, dodging pesky late fees. Many online and some physical retailers accept XRP through gateways such as Coingate.
Big tech companies also support: Microsoft accepts BTC directly or through processors, while Newegg also supports ETH for purchases on the site, and Overstock also accepts XRP. AMC theaters accept Bitcoin and other digital assets for its products and services, from Xbox content to movie tickets.
Beyond these giants, e-commerce platforms like Shopify have democratized the use of digital currency by making it simple for millions of small and medium-sized businesses to include a cryptocurrency checkout option.
Major chain retailers like Home Depot, Lowe’s and IKEA accept cryptocurrency in the form of Bitrefill and Bitpay gift cards, so you can use ETH to finance your home renovations.
Scaling Up: Travel and Luxury
As crypto payments mature, many travel services and airlines, directly or through intermediaries, offer bookings through BTC, ETH and sometimes XRP. When it comes to flights and hotel booking platforms, sites like Travala.com allow travelers to make bookings with BTC, ETH and many other supported digital assets.
In the near future, Emirates Flyers can snag the first seats with digital dollars, no forex uprising. The UAE’s luxury liner is Work with Crypto.com to accept crypto. In Europe, AirBaltic has been accepting crypto since 2014 and processed thousands of crypto transactions.
High-end brands and luxury car dealerships are also entering the crypto payment space. For example, motor posts posted in the US accept bitcoin for the purchase of super-luxury cars through Bitpay. In Europe, platforms like Bitcars have built a crypto-only marketplace for premium and classic cars.
High-end brands have also joined in: Gucci and Ralph Lauren continue to expand their crypto payment options in select flagship stores, especially for their more exclusive collections.
do you know Alternative Airlines is a prominent example as it supports more than 600 airlines worldwide and allows payment with 100+ cryptocurrencies, including XRP.
Financial services, remittance and institutional adoption
When use moves beyond consumer transactions to payment infrastructure, institutional use, remittances and Treasury operations, the different strengths of BTC, ETH and XRP become more apparent.
Remittance and cross-border payments
XRP is often positioned here because Ripple’s consensus-based ledger and infrastructure are designed for lower costs and faster settlement for cross-border transfers. There are businesses like Mercury FX and Cuallix that have adopted or tested XRP for such uses.
Payment processors and gateways
To reduce their exposure to volatility, businesses are increasingly accepting cryptocurrency thanks to platforms such as PayPal, Bitpay and Nowpayment. In particular, PayPal makes it possible for retailers to use more than 100 cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether and XRP.
Treasury and Corporate Holdings
Some companies, such as Bitmine, Sharplink Gaming and Vivopower, include crypto in their Treasury portfolios for strategic purposes, hedging inflation or to get more involved in the cryptocurrency market.
How will more small businesses embrace crypto?
The development of more user friendly technologies and the larger financial ecosystem hold the answer.
Step 1: Choose a payment processor
Payment processors like BitPay, Coinbase Commerce and Coingate make it easier for small businesses to integrate crypto payments with minimal technical knowledge. By instantly converting cryptocurrencies into fiat currency, these processors eliminate the risk of price fluctuations.
Step 2: Reduce compliance costs
The small business owner’s financial and legal burden can be reduced by automated tax reporting systems and more open regulatory frameworks.
Step 3: Embrace a wider variety of digital assets
With technical barriers lowered and compliance simplified, businesses can confidently accept a wider range of cryptocurrencies.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making decisions.
