A major auto dealership in New Hampshire has begun to accept Dash for payments, has sold its first Dash car, and is running a Dash-exclusive promotion.
AutoFair in Merrimack, New Hampshire recently began accepting Dash payments, one of the first major retailers in the region to do so. The first vehicle sold for Dash, a 2012 Ford Fusion, was paid for up front entirely in Dash. The purchase was made in person via mobile wallet to the merchant’s tablet, which was running the Anypay cryptocurrency point-of-sale app. Additionally, the dealership is running a promotion through the Anypay system to provide “Dash-back” to the next four car purchases, giving an extra 5% of the purchase price to the merchant and 5% to the customer, for a total of 10% of the car’s value capped at $1,000. This initiative was funded by the Dash treasury and is intended to incentivize retail Dash purchases.
According to Anypay CEO Steven Zeiler, the emergence of larger items such as vehicles for sale for Dash represents the next stage in its development as a real-world currency:
“Buying a vehicle with Dash signifies the next phase of digital currency adoption as we transition to a world where permanent, durable, expensive capital goods can be purchased with private digital cash. Contrast that with the bitcoin pizza of infamy or restaurants, theater tickets — ephemeral, low-price goods. The next phase is access to financing with cryptocurrency. Financing homes, apartment buildings, cars, and other capital equipment.”
AutoFair is perhaps the largest retail location merchant in New Hampshire to accept Dash payments, which tends to be come common among smaller shops and cafes. Late last year a car purchase for Dash and Bitcoin was recorded, though this was a private sale and not through a major dealership.
Anypay’s strong ground game responsible for much of Dash’s New Hampshire presence
New Hampshire’s high concentration of Dash-accepting merchants and commercial activity can largely be traced back to Anypay and its team members’ consistent pitching of Dash to merchants. At present there are over 80 businesses that accept Dash in the area, a significant figure for a small semi-rural state of under 1.5 million inhabitants. Anypay created one of the first viable point-of-sale apps, and its team approached dozens of merchants individually to accept Dash. According to Anypay’s Derrick J. Freeman, this consistent approach has personal motivations as well:
“Why do it? Because I want to live in a world where I can buy anything I want with private digital cash.”
Dash’s success in New Hampshire has been the focus of a great deal of media attention, including countless articles, several documentaries, and a CNN news segment.
Money talks louder than words in merchant adoption
Convincing merchants to accepting cryptocurrency has been a nearly decade-long struggle since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009. Examples such as Dash’s rise in Venezuela and New Hampshire stand out because of this. One reason for a merchant to accept cryptocurrency is to open up a new field of potential customers. However, according to Freeman, actually following through with promises of purchases can lend a lot more credibility in the merchant’s eyes.
“They were talking about it, considering the possibility, and no one could do it or make them bite and make them do it, and I said, “O.K., I will do it. I will buy a car, but only if they take Dash.” And we helped them understand there is a whole network of customers who want to use Dash. You have to genuinely try and buy something.”
Globally, over 3,400 known merchants accept Dash for payments, with half that number residing in Venezuela alone. This positions Dash well on the way to testing out the concept of wide cryptocurrency adoption.
