Avolta and DevelopX have launched a stablecoin payment pilot at a duty-free store at Zurich Airport, allowing customers to pay in USDC.
The pilot was developed by DevelopX, a digital product and technology firm based in Hamburg, Germany. Customers scan a QR code at checkout, confirm the transaction in their digital wallet, and the payment is settled directly with the merchant over the Base blockchain. According to the companies, settlement is completed within seconds.
How the payment flow works
The solution routes payment directly from the customer's wallet to the merchant's account on the Base blockchain, without involvement from a card network, acquirer, bank, or payment service provider. Compliance checks are carried out automatically in the background as part of the transaction flow. Avolta is among the first major global airport retail operators to trial stablecoin acceptance with customers at a physical point of sale, positioning the pilot within a broader industry move to test blockchain-based settlement alongside traditional card and cash payments in travel retail environments.
Before the pilot went live, Avolta and DevelopX assessed the solution from both a regulatory and a technical standpoint and carried out end-to-end testing prior to the first customer transactions. Christian Heeg, Partner at DevelopX, said the objective of the pilot was to determine whether stablecoin payments can function reliably under real operating conditions at a busy duty-free counter, including scenarios such as shift changes and returns, rather than simply demonstrating that the underlying technology works. The official added that the intention was for the payment step itself to feel routine to the customer, comparable to using cash.
Implications for merchants and travellers
The companies stated that the shorter settlement path affects both sides of the transaction. Travellers using the stablecoin option avoid foreign transaction fees and currency conversion charges typically associated with card payments abroad. In addition, for Avolta, the timing of fund availability changes as well: proceeds from a sale are reflected in the merchant's account within minutes rather than the days typically associated with card settlement.
Context for the travel retail sector
The pilot forms part of a wider pattern of experimentation with stablecoin acceptance in physical retail environments, as merchants and payment technology providers explore blockchain-based settlement as an alternative to card-based infrastructure. For airport retail specifically, where an international customer base commonly incurs cross-border card fees, a wallet-to-merchant settlement model presents a potential cost and speed differential compared with existing payment rails. Avolta and DevelopX described the Zurich Airport pilot as an opportunity to assess how such payment technology could be applied within the travel retail experience going forward.
