Online mall rings up cryptocurrencies

Dive Brief:

Singapore-based MegaX, a partnership between iFashion Group and MC Payment, has announced an online mall that aims to accept payment only in the form of Bitcoin Cash or MGX coins, a form of token created by the partners, according to the Cointelegraph.
The new MegaX mall is targeted at millennials, particularly those who are "crypto-savvy," according to the report, and looking for opportunities to use cryptocurrencies in a retail environment. It is also being positioned as a proving ground for MGX, which the partners see as a future "currency of choice" for millennials. MegaX is coming off a November MGX token sale in which it raised $2.5 million.
The new mall will feature 80,000 different products from more than 1,500 brands, and will also provide a concierge service that shoppers can use to plan trips to exotic locations, such as Irish castles or ice hotels.

Dive Insight:

In this partnership, iFashion is bringing the online retail expertise and MC Payment the background in cryptocurrency. Together, they are looking to capture a market segment that everyone wants to reach — millennials — but continually leaves retailers flummoxed, regardless of what path they take.

The path MegaX is taking is to issue consumers digital tokens that they can use to buy physical products, although MegaX also appears to be accepting other cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin Cash. It's an interesting idea, and one that an increasing number of retailers have been flirting with in recent years. Overstock may be the best-known retailer already accepting Bitcoin, having started back in 2014, and last year expanding its list of accepted alternative currencies to Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum and others.

However, Overstock's experience has also showcased the fears some retailers have about moving aggressively to accept cryptocurrencies. KrebsonSecurity recently reported that a glitch with Overstock's payment partner Coinbase left the platform confusing the values of bitcoin and bitcoin cash (the former being worth much more than the latter), and potentially allowing customers to buy items with bitcoin cash at a steep discount.

Is an e-commerce mall dedicated to accepting cryptocurrency the key to unlocking the millennial shopping market? MegaX is based in a region and a market that is both especially crypto-savvy and open-minded to such currencies from a regulatory point of view. The move could give retailers around the world another data point as they continue to investigate the role such alternative currencies should play for them, but the lack of experience and understanding most retailers have with cryptocurrencies means we are still far away from seeing large-scale adoption.