IKEA Iceland has recently settled an invoice on the Ethereum blockchain, accepting payments in digitized cash.
Tradeshift, a US-based blockchain company, facilitated the transaction. Fintech company Monerium acted as a middleman and provided the digitized version of Icelandic króna on Ethereum blockchain.
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“Programmable money regulated by governments will become the foundation for e-commerce payments because they enable so called ‘smart contracts.’ Smart contracts have many use cases. For example, they can be used to generate ‘Smart Invoices,’ which are invoices that basically settle themselves,” Gert Sylvest, co-founder of Tradeshift, said.
Begining of mainstream acceptance of digitized currency?
The transaction utilizing blockchain was possible amid legislation passed by Iceland earlier this year to issue the digitized version of the fiat currency of the country for circulation within the European Economic Area (EEA).
“As the first company authorized to issue e-money on blockchains, we are delighted to demonstrate the benefits of blockchains for mainstream B2B transactions using a legal form of digital money,” Sveinn Valfells, co-founder and CEO of Monerium, added.
“Unlike cryptocurrency which is volatile, e-money is a proven digital alternative to cash, regulated and redeemable on demand. Using programmable e-money in smart contracts heralds a new category of payments.”
After the transaction, the companies now boasted that the government-regulated digital money is now ready for mainstream acceptance. With its digitized form of fiat, Monerium is also planning to go global, targeting the European markets first. It is also planning to align with the Tradeshift to utilize its global reach.
“A programmable financial supply chain, where trading partners can connect information flows to money flows through smart contracts, will transform how suppliers and customers interact,” Stefán Árnason, CFO of IKEA Iceland, added.
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