Italian luxury car maker Ferrari has decided to include cryptocurrency as a payment option due to merchant and market demand.
The Maranello, Italy-based company will begin accepting purchases of its luxury cars using crypto in the United States and plans to expand the new payment option in Europe in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, Reuters reported.
The company’s chief marketing and commercial officer, Enrico Galliera, told the publication that many of Ferrari’s customers are crypto investors and including crypto as an option will allow the company to engage with potential customers.
Potential customers include “young investors who have built their wealth around cryptocurrencies,” while others are “more traditional investors looking to diversify their portfolios,” Galliera said.
Currently, the luxury automaker will support crypto purchases using Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) – the two largest crypto coins by market capitalization. The company is also expected to accept the stablecoin USDC and has partnered with cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay in the first phase in the US.
Bitpay instantly converts cryptocurrency payments into fiat to prevent the volatility associated with cryptocurrencies and also certifies that the cryptocurrencies used for payments do not come from illegal activities but from legitimate sources.
According to Galliera, there are no surcharges, fees or additional charges for paying via cryptocurrency. The Ferrari manager did not provide any information on the number of cars expected to be sold using the new payment methods.
Renewable energy sources
Ferrari’s inclusion of cryptocurrencies is in line with its goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. Galliera noted that cryptocurrencies have reduced their carbon footprint by introducing software upgrades and using more renewable resources.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla, which allowed customers to purchase a Tesla car with Bitcoin in 2021, discontinued the payment option less than two months later due to environmental concerns.
According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the company would resume BTC payments if miners’ clean energy sources were up to 50%. Since then, clean energy consumption in Bitcoin mining has exceeded 50 percent, leading to speculation about whether Tesla will accept BTC payments again.
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