Greyp Teams Up for Blockchain-Powered Payments
Greyp, electric bike manufacturer and mobility tech startup, has teamed up with two blockchain groups, slock.it and the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), to develop an automatic payment system for IoT vehicles. greyp bikes
Such payments will begin as machine-to-machine transactions, such as tolls, rentals, and renewable charging services, and will include cryptocurrency options. Proofs of concept for each use case were unveiled earlier this year.
“We envision a network where every vehicle has a digital ‘wallet’ enabling autonomous machines to receive and create payments, both to humans and to other machines,” said Greyp COO Kresimir Hlede. “This is a big step forward toward realizing our vision for a sustainable, connected future. We are excited to be working with slock.it and the Energy Web Foundation to achieve this.”
Based in Zagreb, the Croatian mobility startup has partnered with slock.it, a German IoT company connecting physical devices to the blockchain, and EWF, a non-profit applying blockchain in the energy sector. This follows its partnership with T-Mobile, whose eSIM technology powers connectivity for the Greyp G6 bike.
Aside from the automatic payment system, the company is focused on expanding its platform to support third-party mobility apps in line with CEO Mate Rimac’s vision of “a connected future of zero emissions, zero accidents and zero ownership.”
“My vision has always been a holistic one focused on building a truly connected world,” said CEO Mate Rimac. “We are grateful for our support in the bike community. Now, we are taking the next step toward building an integrated network that can support an unlimited array of interoperable, sustainable, smart mobility options. And it is rewarding to collaborate to build this future with such innovative groups as the Energy Web Foundation and slock.it.”
EWF’s chief commercial officer Jesse Morris said: “Our mission is for blockchain-based solutions to accelerate a low-carbon, customer-centric electricity future. In the years ahead, we forecast that customers will invest more in the grid than utilities. Electric mobility is a key part of that megatrend. We are proud to partner with Greyp to make it one step closer to reality.”
Greyp, backed by Porsche and Camel Group and the sister company of Rimac Automobili, has a digitized equity offering, which allows retail investors to own equity in the company (voting rights included) for as little as €100. Investments are conducted on the Neufund financing platform, which just launched this month after EU regulatory approval. greyp bikes