09.09.2026, Zurich/Hamburg
Press Release
Today, travelers at Zurich Airport can use USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, to make purchases at the duty-free store operated by Avolta, the leading global travel retail and F&B operator. Customers can now scan a QR code at the checkout, confirm the payment in their wallet, and the money is sent directly to the merchant via the Base Blockchain. The payment is final in seconds. DevelopX has designed and implemented the solution.
Avolta is among the first major global airport retail operators to pilot stablecoin payments at the physical point of sale with customers. The solution enables customers to pay directly from their digital wallet, creating a payment experience that is closer to cash than traditional card-based payment methods.
Before the go-live, the feasibility was checked from a regulatory and technical point of view, and the solution was subjected to rigorous end-to-end testing before the first customers used the stablecoin checkout.
“The question is no longer whether a stablecoin payment technically works. The question is whether it can withstand a Friday evening in duty-free, with shift changes, returns and everything that goes with it. To evaluate whether stablecoins can become a real digital alternative to cash payment at the POS is the purpose of the pilot. For the customer, paying itself is almost boring in the end. That was exactly the goal.” says Christian Heeg, Partner at DevelopX.
The core is payment processing without a middleman directly via the blockchain. The money goes directly from the customer’s wallet to the merchant. In between, there is no card network, no acquirer, no bank and no payment service provider. Compliance checks run invisibly in the background.
The shorter route can be felt on both sides of the cash register. Travelers save on credit card fees for foreign transactions and currency conversion. On the merchant side, the moment when a sale becomes available money shifts: the proceeds are in the account in minutes, not days.
The pilot at Zurich Airport represents an opportunity to explore how emerging payment technologies can enhance the travel experience.
About Avolta
Avolta is a global leader at the intersection of travel retail and food & beverage, delivering integrated shopping and dining experiences across airports, motorways, cruise lines, ferries, rail and other high-traffic travel locations worldwide.
Avolta’s global workforce operates in more than 70 countries and across nearly 1,000 locations, managing around 5,100 points of sale. Its traveler-centric strategy is built on digital, data and continuous innovation, while its scale and reach, across multiple travel environments, strengthens resilience and underpins consistent operational and financial performance.
To learn more, visit avoltaworld.com
About DevelopX
DevelopX is a German digital consulting and software engineering company with 300+ employees in Germany, Portugal and Poland. It designs and builds digital products and infrastructure for international corporations and mid-sized companies, with a dedicated focus on stablecoins and digital payments. DevelopX is not a payment service provider. The systems it builds run on client infrastructure and are owned and operated by the client.
Press contact
Christian Heeg
Partner