Mall of America to Showcase Winklevoss-Backed Crypto Payments

Flexa, a startup making it easier to use crypto for purchases in the real world, will be an advisory participant in a new demonstration store at America's largest mall, which is located outside Minneapolis, Minn. The store, meant to showcase new brands and technologies for enhancing the retail experience, is being organized by management consulting firm McKinsey.

The store - called Modern Retail Collective - will test out retail technology under real conditions.

With some 8,000 U.S. brick-and-mortar stores closing this year alone, according to a press release from McKinsey, the question of generating value has taken on a new sense of urgency.

Flexa's Spalding noted that McKinsey advises companies large enough that very modest cost savings can turn into real money across large chains.

Other non-crypto technologies will also be demonstrated in the store, including FaceCake, Chatter Research and ComQi.

Square will also be participating in the store as a payments system, but without using its bitcoin technology, a spokesperson confirmed to CoinDesk.

The Flexa payment app, SPEDN, allows for instant payment with cryptocurrency because every transaction is guaranteed by a stake in Flexa's FXC token.

As those partners come online, they will also be able to make purchases at the demo store.

Spalding expects some of the retailers to offer small discounts for using crypto for payments because it offers them certain advantages.

The store will be open at least through the holidays, Spalding said.