Different kind of gas fees: Electrocoin enables crypto petrol payments in Croatia

Crypto-payments processing firm Electrocoin is partnering with a local oil and gas company in Croatia to allow drivers to pay for a full tank using crypto.

According to Croatian news outlet Poslovni Dnevnik, people needing to gas up their vehicles at any of the 46 Tifon stations in the country can now pay using Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Stellar Lumen (XLM), XRP and EOS. Tifon will integrate PayCek, a crypto payments platform from Electrocoin, into its existing payments systems to make this possible.

Tifon chief financial officer Ana Lokas said the company expected that foreign tourists in Croatia would likely contribute to the development and growth of crypto payments in the country given their “widespread habits of using this type of payment.” Many countries are still warning against crossing any borders during the pandemic, but the number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Croatia has also fallen to under 1,000 since peaking in mid-December 2020.

Electrocoin founder and director Nikola Škorić said the partnership was “the result of serious companies increasingly recognizing the possibilities of cryptocurrencies.” He explained the payment system in detail:

“If a person refills for HRK 400 and wants to pay in cryptocurrencies, the moment we inform Tifon via PayCek that the payment has been processed, Tifon receives HRK 400,” said Škorić. “At no time are they at risk.”

“Bitcoin, when it was created ten years ago, was designed to be used for payment. [...] Cryptocurrencies are mostly talked about in terms of investment, but on the other hand, partnerships such as this one with Tifon, and many coming in the coming months, show in Croatia that cryptocurrencies are slowly returning to their original idea — use for payment transactions.”

Though Lokas said crypto payments are “still in their infancy in Croatia,” the country has led the way in certain areas of the ecosystem. Two years ago, a similar program was piloted between the Croatian Post and Electrocoin, allowing residents to cash in their crypto at three post offices in the city of Zadar. In addition, Telos announced last year it would tokenize $35 million worth of Croatian seafront properties.