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All good changes take a little bit of time. Gone are the days when crypto was only seen as something belonging to a world of geekiness and virtual exchanges.
The crypto world has reached a critical mass of interest, with more and more people being familiar with its advantages. Cryptocurrency is becoming a common possession, and its owners wish to use it in their offline daily lives.
Being at the right place at the right time is always great when it happens. Elipay – a cryptocurrency transaction system developed by the Slovenian start-up Eligma, is experiencing one of those moments. It was created in response to the fact that crypto consumer interests became recognized as a major part of future commerce trends both in online and offline shopping. In partnership with BTC City, a business, shopping and logistics centre of European significance, the Elipay system for cryptocurrency payments started being tested at selected BTC City offline stores.
Its first use took place at the Atlantis Water Park, where it was used to buy two hours of leisure time at the Adventure World pool complex. Next followed its use at the Tomas Sport-2 Sneakers store, where it was used to buy a pair of crypto sneaks by the electronic music legend DJ Umek.
So, how does Elipay work? It is accessible through one of the most common devices nowadays – the mobile phone. The Elipay application enables cryptocurrency payments, deposits and transfers – currently in bitcoin and bitcoin cash, with other cryptocurrencies and tokens to follow. At the cash register, one is asked if one would like to pay with cryptocurrency. In such a case, the sum is converted into cryptocurrency and a transaction QR code is created.
The customer then needs to open the Elipay app, scan the QR code and confirm the transaction. This is all and only takes a few seconds.
The Eligma company is now looking for testers of the Elipay system at BTC City shops, and is offering an 100-ELI reward for anyone who is selected as a testing team member. For more information, you can check https://www.elipay.com
Letters of intent to use the Elipay system have already been signed with quite a few BTC shops, with many more to follow till the end of the year. By making cryto payments part of its regular offer, BTC City aims to become the first Bitcoin City in the world.
As a member of the crypto community, I feel that paying with crypto offline has reached the point when it is there to stay. Remember how it was with mobile phones?
At the beginning, there was quite a bit of aversion to them due to alleged radiation and 'private time invasion', but today, we can not imagine life without one. In a few years, consumer diversity in terms of what currency one wants to use, whether fiat or virtual, will be a normal part of commerce reality, a part of the basic consumer rights so to speak. Future generations will see this choice as something normal and for granted, and it is nice to finally see it becoming a mainstream reality.