Belgian startup debuts Bitcoin payments for parking tickets

The company says it expects Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to come into greater everyday use, especially once tokens become more environmentally friendly.

Seety, a digital parking startup based in Belgium, has introduced crypto payment support for parking tickets.

According to a report by DataNews on Thursday, the company, which is one of the firms bootstrapped by Belgian accelerator program Start it @KBC, has rolled out a crypto payment feature in Antwerp and Brussels.

Beginning Thursday, Seety users will be able to use Bitcoin (BTC) to pay for parking tickets in both cities.

In addition to Bitcoin, customers can also use cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Litecoin (LTC), as well as stablecoins like Dai and USD Coin (USDC).

Customers looking to use crypto to pay for a parking space will use the “coins” to buy Seety credits on the company’s app. According to the report, customers will not incur any additional fees if they use crypto.

The Seety app reportedly has over 355,000 users in Belgium and the Netherlands and is aiming to achieve an annual turnover above 2 million euros ($2,372,002.28) by 2022.

For the company, using crypto to pay for parking spaces is indicative of how cryptocurrencies will eventually gain greater adoption in everyday microtransactions. Seety expects crypto adoption to grow once tokens become more environmentally friendly.

Related: Visa will facilitate USDC payments, thanks to fresh partnership

Using Bitcoin to pay for parking tickets goes as far back as 2014 with the defunct Brawker app. These days, crypto payment options for microtransactions are becoming increasingly popular even though significant hurdles still stand in the way of a more broad-based penetration.

Crypto credit cards and stablecoins are also helping to simplify the process of spending cryptocurrencies while making it easier for merchants to onboard cryptocurrency payment options to their platforms.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Visa recently stated that its crypto-enabled cards processed over $1 billion in crypto spending in the first half of 2021.