Luxury car maker Ferrari has announced it will expand its offerings to accept cryptocurrency payments across European dealers.
The recent development comes barely one year after Ferrari announced that it would roll out crypto payments across the United States.
The recent integration comes as more traditional companies continue to embrace crypto. For instance, PayPal endorsed the Ethereum blockchain with its PYUSD stablecoin. The development sought to help merchants have easy access to cryptocurrency payments.
Ferrari Launches Crypto Payments in Europe
According to a Reuters report, Italian car dealers plan to roll out crypto payments across the European region. The company added that many dealers across the region have adopted or are in the process of adopting the new payment system.
Ferrari noted that the rising popularity of cryptocurrency payments has seen some of its dealers embrace these assets. It pointed out that most of its European dealers had already implemented the new payment system or were in the process of adopting one.
When launching its crypto payments scheme in the US last year, Ferrari partnered with BitPay. The company used BitPay to process Bitcoin, Ether, and USD Coin payments.
The partnership saw any cryptocurrency payments being immediately converted into fiat currency. This move ensured that Ferrari dealers were not affected by price volatility. The company noted that while the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies made them less suitable as a means of exchange, demand from wealthy clients had necessitated the change.
Ferrari is yet to announce how the crypto payments for European dealers will be processed. However, the company might partner with payment processors regulated in Europe for the initiative.
Ferrari also plans to extend crypto payments beyond the US and Europe to other countries where cryptocurrencies are legally accepted. The company noted that the initiative rolled out in the US was already a success, with dealers now able to meet clients’ varying needs.
Ferrari said,
The entry into the European market follows the successful launch of this alternative payment system in the United States less than a year ago to support dealers in better addressing the evolving needs of its clients.
Slow Adoption of Crypto Payments Amid Regulatory Shift
Europe has been a hub of cryptocurrency activities. The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation is set to establish a more comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets, which will further help drive adoption.
Nevertheless, the integration of crypto assets across Europe has been challenging. The non-compliance by some industry players and concerns around the high energy usage of proof-of-work (PoW) systems such as Bitcoin have hindered the widespread use of crypto assets for payment.
In countries like China, crypto assets have been slapped with a complete ban. Recently, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin also voiced concerns over the high energy demands of crypto mining activities.
