Jože Mermal, Eligma’s cofounder, makes the first Elipay transaction in an offline store
Tags: Technology, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

History was made yesterday in BTC City, one of the largest shopping and entertainment complexes in Europe that is becoming a cradle of innovation. Its president and Eligma’s cofounder Jože Mermal paid for a two-hour spa package with Bitcoins, marking the first payment using the Elipay cryptocurrency gateway.

We caught up with Jože after the big event for a short chat.

What persuaded you to not only join the project, but also invest in it?

The BTC company and myself have always been open to ground-breaking and innovative ideas that simplify and upgrade existing systems and frameworks and society-friendly concepts. With this vision we also managed to establish BTC CITY, the biggest business, shopping, recreational, cultural and innovative centre in SE Europe, which hosts more than 21 million visitors every year. That’s why I believe in Eligma and support it. It is a project that will enable simplified and modern online shopping for people in Slovenia and all over the world. This is how the BTC company will do its part in creating and developing new shopping process trends and provide its visitors with a modern online and shopping experience.

Why do BTC City and its retailers find it important to implement new technologies, especially blockchain technologies?

BTC CITY has always been an environment, whose main goal was the well-being of its visitors, buyers and business partners. Our habits are changing, and every segment of our everyday lives is becoming simpler. The main building blocks of what I mentioned are technologies that we are gradually implementing into our lives and which we have mostly accepted and cannot picture our lives without them. The BTC company has always embraced changing environments, habits and trends as we want to offer our visitors and business partners a modern and advanced surrounding where they will feel good and happily create and develop their business goals. Among a number of other functionalities, blockchain technology enables transparency and traceability, which are the two key building blocks of every system in the private or public sphere. That is what we want to offer all of our visitors and business partners.

Elipay is Eligma’s cryptocurrency transaction gateway. What will it bring to the BTC City? What advantages do you see in cryptocurrencies and what do you personally think about them?

BTC is a free-thinking company that is creating an open, modern and innovative ecosystem. We want to give our visitors and business partners options and opportunities. That includes different methods of paying for services and products. People must have the freedom to decide how they want to shop and pay. We have transited from cash management to card and online payments. Currency exchange has become quick and easy, so I believe it’s time to embrace the future and not hide from it. Cryptocurrencies are already here, so we want to enable all BTC CITY visitors to pay however they want. With the Elipay transaction system we will give them exactly that free will and an open society.

Eligma will perform its initial tests in BTC City. Why are BTC City and its Living Lab so suitable for this purpose?

The BTC CITY Living lab (testing environment) is an ecosystem within the BTC CITY Ljubljana. As a city within Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia, it’s unique in a spatial and business sense. Therefore, testing different technologies and prototypes is something that is natural to us, as it allows us to give our visitors access to the latest technologies (Eligma, Nedo, Smart parking, BTC Autonomous vehicle Living Lab, SmartCity, etc.). At the same time visitors provide us with very important information and real feedback and insights that tell us whether that solution, technology or prototype is the correct one for our and / or the international market.

How do you picture e-commerce in 5 years?

People create trends and technologies that help us raise the quality of our lives according to our needs. That’s why I believe it’s extremely important to listen to people’s wishes, needs and changing shopping and processing habits, strive to optimize them and create a people-friendly environment. We can already see the arrival of a hybrid shopping and trading concept that will greatly simplify our shopping practices. Buyers will enjoy a safe, quick and simplified shopping experience that will represent a permanent connection of the physical and digital worlds. ELIGMA is representing a large part of e-commerce and online shopping future. It will change and simplify online shopping with its advanced technological solutions and functionalities and by doing so create new trends, guidelines and online shopping habits. The BTC company will always do its best to implement new technologies that will enable a modern and friendly shopping environment.

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