A payment service buy an automobile giant? Mercedes-Benz has acquired PayCash Europa SA is thought to be in the process of launching Mercedes-Pay, a payment service of its own.
PayCash Europe operates a number of services like Mobile Payment Solutions, E-Money Solution, Cryptocurrency related services and Voucher and Loyalty related services. The acquisition of PayCash Europe will be made by Daimler AG the parent of Mercedes-Benz through Daimler Financial Services.
Why does Mercedes need PayCash?
It does not appear at first glance that the main aim of Mercedes-Benz is to dabble in cryptocurrency but there has been no denial issued by them as well.
Bodo Uebber, Daimler Financial Services Board of Management member, reveals in a press release by the company:
"Mercedes Pay is a fundamental component of our mobility and digitization strategy. Daimler's new payment system underscores our ambition, as a leading provider of digital mobility services, to make the products and services we offer even more appealing."
PayCash which will turn into Mercedes Pay will be integrated into Daimler Mobility Services GmbH, which is further a subsidiary of Daimler Financial Services and has a number of mobility services in car-sharing like car2go.
They have a portfolio that comprises of four mln financed vehicles, it was revealed by Diamler that they intend to use the new payment system to “facilitate these and other financing transactions in the future.”
Mobility at fingertips
There are inherent synergies between Daimler and PayCash Europe. PayCash’s system allows people to purchase items online or in a store with their mobile phone. Their application, which is available on both Google and Apple app stores also allows the sending and receiving of money.
The E-money service provided by PayCash allows businesses to accept online payments and manage ‘E-money’. With Daimler's businesses like Car2Go, it is possible to share cars using a mobile application. This application allows users to self-drive a nearby car to their destination. Car2Go currently is used by more than 1.2 mln customers.
Klaus Entenmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Financial Services, on the subject of the merger in a press release says:
"Our philosophy is to provide 'Mobility at your fingertips'. 'Mercedes pay' allows our customers to easily and securely pay for our mobility offerings and services using their smartphones. Mercedes pay will mainly benefit customers, who will in future only need to provide their payment details once in order to be able to use a range of Daimler’s services. This is made possible by the "eWallet", a virtual source of payment.”
So, can you buy a Mercedes with Bitcoin?
There have been no details disclosed by both Daimler and PayCash. There is no clarity yet about what parts of PayCash’s cryptocurrency businesses will be affected or whether they would still continue to operate.
The press release by Daimler mainly shows interest in the e-wallet and the e-payment side of the businesses operated by PayCash. It would be interesting though if by the acquisition of PayCash, there would be a possibility soon of buying a car directly from Mercedes and paying for it in Bitcoin.
However Bitcoin can still help you drive your favourite car as some dealerships already accept the virtual currency. Of course you can always use Bitcoin and the neat profit that you earned holding it to buy yourself a brand new set of wheels.