Singaporean luxury car distributor, EuroSports Global, has started accepting cryptocurrency payments for Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo motor-vehicles.
EuroSports has partnered with digital payments’ company, Fomo Pay, to accept payments for their vehicles in BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC. The company feels the need to satisfy “the growing demand for flexible and easy-to-use crypto payments” while using crypto to lower transaction fees and simplify international transactions.
Fomo Pay CEO Louis Liu said that the firm received a digital token payment license from the MAS in September 2021. The firm provides intermediary services for 2Tone Vintage, a merchant specializing in vintage high-end watches, and Luxehouze, a prominent marketplace for luxury items in the Asian region.
In enlisting Fomo Pay, 2Tone Vintage hopes to attract new clients, while Luxehouze is looking to avoid forex fluctuations.
Despite warnings from the Monetary Authority of Singapore that crypto trading is risky, many merchants in the region are now accepting cryptocurrency for payments. Sherry Goh, country manager for Singapore at London-headquartered crypto exchange Luno, said, “Singapore is one of Luno’s key markets, given its reputation as a global financial hub with a progressive business environment. We witnessed more than 40 percent year-on-year growth in our customer base between March 2021 and February 2022.”
Hands-off approach
Crypto stands to take business away from traditional banks via companies like BitPay that enable merchants and even real estate agents to accept payments in multiple cryptocurrencies. An intermediary converting back and forth between cryptocurrencies and fiat allows businesses to process crypto payments without holding bitcoin on their balance sheet, according to Deloitte. This helps in the short-term to attract new customers, with the third-party absorbing most of the risk and compliance burdens. However, the business must still perform Know-Your-Customer and anti-money laundering checks and comply with sanctions restrictions put forth (in the US) by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Even lending can be done more securely on the blockchain
Decentralized finance is also disrupting traditional borrowing and lending models. Smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain enable the terms of exchange for peer-to-peer lending to be encoded in software rather than via agreements entered into with a centralized entity like a bank. When applying for a bank loan, the bank evaluates your risk profile, including your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and whether you own a home. This information is available via third-party credit agencies such as TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Banks then use this information to come up with the interest rate and fees they will charge for the loan. The CEO OF BitPay says, “Banks charge many fees to consumers. With Bitcoin, users can handle many of their daily payment needs themselves and bank fees, so banks relying on fee revenue could be impacted the most.”
Imagine that your credit score sits on a global immutable, decentralized, secure ledger that grants you an international credit rating. That’s part of the power of the blockchain when it comes to lending. A company called Bloom is bringing credit scores to the blockchain and building infrastructure to manage identity and risk. Another company, called SALT Lending, offers users the opportunity of borrowing funds against any crypto collateral. The user must buy SALT tokens to take out a loan.
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