IKEA Permits Invoice-Payment through Ethereum Blockchain
Brian Njuguna Oct 03, 2019 05:46
IKEA recently permitted an invoice to be paid from Nordic Strore through the Ethereum blockchain.
Nordic Store, an Icelandic retailer, recently purchased goods from IKEA Iceland, and the transaction was settled through the Ethereum blockchain. The operation was facilitated by Tradeshift, a supply chain payments company, and Monerium, a licensed e-money for blockchains firm.
Tradeshift availed the platform needed for the transaction, whereas Monerium provided smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.
Blockchain-Powered Payments now a Reality
The successful transaction between IKEA and Nordic Store shows that government regulated, programmable e-money is ready for mainstream adoption.
Gert Sylvest, Tradeshift’s co-founder, asserted that this was a positive move because it could trigger considerable changes in the market.
He noted:
“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.”
On the other hand, Sveinn Valfells, Monerium CEO, asserted that the successful transaction came in handy in showing blockchain’s capabilities.
Valfells stipulated:
“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.”
IKEA’s decision to use Ethereum blockchain in the invoice payment was made possible by a landmark administrative decision to permit the issuance of digital fiat by Monerium within the European Economic Area.
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