In-Store Payments Using Bitcoin

Abstract

The possibility of in-store payments would further increase the potential usefulness of cryptocurrencies. However, this would require much faster transaction verification than current solutions provide (one hour for Bitcoin) since customers are likely not prepared to wait a very long time for their purchase to be accepted by a store. We propose a solution for enabling in-store payments with waiting times in the order of a few seconds, which is still compatible with the current Bitcoin protocol. The idea is based on a payment card in combination with a protocol for ensuring that losing a card does not mean losing the money on it. We analyse the required transaction verification delay and also the potentially added risks that the solution brings compared to current systems.