Croatian e-bike startup Greyp partners with blockchain groups slock.it, Energy Web Foundation

Greyp, a Croatian electric bike manufacturer and mobility tech startup, has joined forces with two blockchain groups, slock.it and the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), to develop an automatic payment system for IoT vehicles, portal tech.eu has reported. Greyp is a sister company of Rimac Automobili.

Such payments will begin as machine-to-machine transactions, such as tolls, rentals, and renewable charging services, and will include cryptocurrency options.

slock.it is a German IoT company connecting physical devices to the blockchain, while EWF is a non-profit applying blockchain in the energy sector. Greyp has earlier started a partnership with T-Mobile, whose eSIM technology powers connectivity for the Greyp G6 bike.

“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. This is a big step forward toward realizing our vision for a sustainable, connected future,” said Greyp COO Kresimir Hlede.

EWF’s chief commercial officer Jesse Morris said that their 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,” he said.

Aside from the automatic payment system, Greyp 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. “Now, we are taking the next step toward building an integrated network that can support an unlimited array of interoperable, sustainable, smart mobility options.”

Greyp, backed by Porsche and Camel Group and Rimac Automobili, has a digitized equity offering, which allows retail investors to own equity in the company for as little as EUR 100. Investments are conducted on the Neufund financing platform, which just launched this month after EU regulatory approval.