Quick Take
- Chipotle will now accept cryptocurrency through Flexa, a digital payments platform.
- Fast food chains have increasingly been experimenting in crypto, NFTs, and blockchain gaming, including Chipotle, which opened a store on Roblox in the fall.
Chipotle, the popular Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain, will now accept cryptocurrency payments through Flexa, a digital payments platform.
Flexa supports around 98 currencies, including BTC and ETH. Customers can use the app to pay for food items in any of the nearly 3000 Chipotle restaurants in the United States.
To pay with Flexa, customers will need to download Gemini or SPEDN app, both of which store digital assets. Customers can then use the app and tap it in-store to make a payment.
Chipotle joins a long list of restaurants that currently accept cryptocurrency. Subway, one of the first to accept Bitcoin in stores, started as early as 2013. Pizza Hut in Venezuela also began accepting crypto back in 2020. Starbucks allowed its reward members to turn cryptocurrencies cash balances on the Starbucks app, using a third-party app.
Other fast-food chains are trying to experiment in blockchain and crypto in other ways, trying to create hybrid digital-physical experiences. Taco Bell, KFC, Chick-fil-A, and Carl’s Jr. are just a few chains to have recently filed for brand trademarks for NFTs.
In April, Wendy’s worked with Meta to launch a virtual Wendy’s store, where users can create an avatar and sit at virtual tables with virtual food.
Chipotle was even earlier to the virtual store trend, with a virtual restaurant on Roblox for Halloween in 2021. Players could dress up their avatars in Chipotle-themed costumes like using a bag of chips as a ghost or a burrito mummy. In this experiment, the first 100,000 users got free burritos online, which could be redeemed for real ones in physical stores.
Editor’s note: The article has been updated to reflect that Starbucks does not accept crypto as payment through Flexa.
