In England and Scandinavia, taxis are rolling on Ethereum

Crypto adoption on four wheels: A pilot project is being launched in England and Scandinavia that will connect thousands of taxis to Ethereum.

Pay for the taxi ride with cryptocurrencies? What sounds like a dream of the future is taking shape in England and Scandinavia. The HIPS Payment Group Ltd, a provider of e-commerce and mobile payment solutions, has entered into a partnership with the payment processor for Scandinavian taxi companies, The Payment House, in order to connect the taximeter to Ethereum. The model will first be tested in a beta version from November on 20,000 taxis in Scandinavia and 10,000 taxis in Great Britain before it could also make the rounds in other countries.

Ethereum as a settlement system

The solution is based on the Merchant Protocol (HMP) and Merchant Gateway (HMP-gateway) from Hips and is initially based on the Ethereum blockchain, but is also compatible with other smart contract-based networks such as Cardano or Solana. The system is optimized for real-time transactions that were created for Payment Service Providers (PSP) and POS terminals, it says in the associated Whitepaper. The only payment options are initially only the Stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) and the Merchant Token (MTO). The integration of further crypto currencies should take place after the beta phase, it says in the corresponding Press release.

The focus is therefore on the “market penetration of crypto payments”, explains Hips CEO John Cavebring. “The consumer-facing functions of the merchant token will further enable the cryptocurrency to gain mass adoption among mainstream consumers worldwide,” continued Cavebring.

The company still leaves open whether one can also enjoy the benefit of being able to pay for taxi transport with cryptos in the future. However, Hips told BTC-ECHO that the model will be rolled out in other countries after the beta phase has ended. Hips is also still keeping open at this point in time which cryptocurrencies could be added.

Herculean task of mass acceptance

The model is representative of creeping crypto acceptance in broad payment transactions. Probably the biggest boost was the adoption by payment service provider PayPal, which has been enabling US merchants to make crypto payments with Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash for a good two months. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman recently indicated how high the demand is during a blockchain symposium. The Crypto Checkout is heading for a trading volume of 200 million US dollars over the next few months.

Visa, Mastercard and Venmo are also setting the course for crypto. Cryptocurrencies are gradually on the threshold of mass adoption. The services of the payment sizes have so far been limited to the US market. As soon as the solutions reach the European market, the adoption process should accelerate rapidly. The taxi model thus symbolizes the gradual motorization of crypto acceptance.