NectarPay rolls out 11,000 crypto POS terminals to Texas merchants

NectarPay is testing whether consumers will actually pay for everyday goods with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, starting with an initial 1,000 terminals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and now expanding to 11,000 handheld point-of-sale terminals across Texas. For PSPs and merchants, the real question is not whether crypto can be accepted, but whether it can do so at lower cost than card rails without turning checkout into a science project.

1. NectarPay’s terminals let merchants accept cryptocurrency payments directly from customers, with the system creating a non-custodial wallet that can receive payments across multiple blockchain networks. The default payment option on the terminals is the Texas-based TEXITcoin blockchain.
2. The pitch is straightforward: lower transaction costs than traditional card networks such as Visa and Mastercard, plus the usual crypto talking points of faster settlement and no chargebacks. The source notes that some alternative payment platforms can also be expensive, with PayPal charging merchants 4% or more per transaction, while some bitcoin exchanges advertise fees below 1%.
3. Adoption, for now, is still merchant-led rather than customer-led. Joel Hugentobler, Cryptocurrency Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, said the appeal is lower fees, faster settlement, and no chargebacks, while actual consumer use of crypto for everyday purchases remains very small.
4. There is at least some merchant-side optimism. Research from PayPal and the National Cryptocurrency Association says nearly 85% of merchants believe crypto payments will become common within the next five years, and roughly 88% of merchants report that customers have asked whether they accept crypto payments.
5. The broader market signal is mixed. The source says several national retailers, including Whole Foods, Chipotle, Sheetz, Starbucks, and Shake Shack, have tested crypto-related payments or rewards programs, but consumer adoption of crypto payments still trails traditional payment methods.

For high-risk operators and their PSPs, the useful takeaway is that crypto acceptance is being tested as a cost and settlement play first, and as a consumer demand story second. If that sounds familiar, it is because the economics tend to show up before the volume does.