Consulting DeFi Twitter

Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke has taken to Twitter to consult the decentralized finance (DeFi) community on Shopify’s potential role in the space.

In the tweet, Lutke asked what commerce-related opportunities for the DeFi space the decentralized finance community is most excited about, as well as requested suggestions for Shopify’s role itself.

The questions attracted a number of responses, including a request to support bitcoin (BTC) Lightning payments, as well as stablecoin integration for Shopify-based payments.

There were also several partnership proposals with top DeFi projects, including Compound Finance (COMP) and Aave (AAVE).

However, Shopify did not convince all respondents of their seriousness. Twitter user, Paul Everton, argued the DeFi space may not be “relevant” for companies that operate in the “real-world” like Shopify, citing high transaction fees.

DeFi isn’t relevant to a company that operates in the real world like Shopify.

— Paul Everton (@realpauleverton) April 3, 2021

DeFi enthusiasts quickly pointed out that this was only true if you ignored layer two solutions and that most were actually much cheaper than 99.9% of Shopify’s transactions.

The Seal of Approval

In any case, Shopify’s pondering of a future role in not only the cryptocurrency space, but the DeFi space is an endorsement of the space from a major company in the online retail world.

The retailing platform integrated BitPay and Coinbase Commerce last year in order to allow its merchants to begin accepting several cryptocurrencies as payment.

Shopify also joined the Facebook-led Libra Association last year, despite a number of high-profile step-backs for the association. Facebook revealed Libra in 2019 as its attempt to use blockchain-based technology to serve the underbanked.

It drew fierce confrontation from governments and regulators worldwide, as they raised concerns regarding the company’s potential influence on the global financial system. Indeed, the international community set up task force, led by the G7 countries, in direct response.

The New Normal

Nevertheless, interest in cryptocurrencies from industry giants is growing at a rapid pace. PayPal recently revealed a cryptocurrency payments solution for its checkout service.

The solution named “Checkout with Crypto” will let users pay with bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC). This comes after the payments giant enabled crypto trading on its platform towards the end of last year. This resulted in PayPal users trading over $242 million worth of cryptocurrencies in just 24 hours .

Indeed, PayPal competitors such as Visa, Mastercard, and Circle are all now integrating cryptocurrency payment solutions in trend that is becoming the new normal.