CarNow, the automotive industry’s digital retailing firm, recently announced a partnership with Cion Digital, offering clients a way to purchase and finance vehicles using cryptocurrency via “an integration with CarNow’s Real-Time Retail™ platform.”
Cion Digital’s “ready-to-deploy” modular payments and lending platform offers firms with access to all the connectivity, infrastructure and support required to deploy blockchain-powered real-time payment and lending solutions, and “to incorporate digital assets into existing traditional and legacy payment and financing systems.”
This capability will be “made available to CarNow’s entire network of nearly 5,000 dealers and will include a … crypto lending marketplace that will let car buyers use their crypto as collateral for loans at highly competitive rates.”
Tim Cox, Co-founder and Chief Evangelist of CarNow, stated:
“This partnership further demonstrates our commitment to providing our dealers and their clients with the most inclusive, dealer-friendly payment options. Now our dealers can better connect with a new kind of buyer who is looking to leverage next generation cryptocurrency payment options and create a more frictionless car buying journey. We’re thrilled to be embarking on this alliance together as we look to transform the car-buying experience.”
Cion’s Auto Dealership Cryptocurrency integration “gives car buyers shopping at a dealership using CarNow flexible payment and lending options,” the update noted.
Car buyers may “choose to place a deposit on a vehicle with cryptocurrency, make a down payment, or pay for the vehicle in full.”
The platform “allows for full payment in cryptocurrency, as well as options to combine both crypto and fiat currencies in the same transaction.”
Car buyers can also “use cryptocurrency as collateral to qualify for a low-interest loan with one of several lenders in Cion Digital’s lending marketplace – almost always at significantly better rates than traditional financing.”
After a car buyer chooses how they want to pay, the order is “ported from the CarNow platform to Cion Digital.” The integration enables buyers to “progress through identity verification (KYC) quickly and seamlessly and proceed to payment.”
Transactions are confirmed on the blockchain and “transferred in compliance with AML and KYC regulations directly to the custodian in either crypto or fiat (as requested by the dealer) in just a few seconds.” Dealers can then “choose when they want to transfer settled funds via ACH into their bank account.”
Fred Brothers, President and Co-founder of Cion Digital, remarked:
“Cion is excited to officially partner with CarNow to offer their dealer partners the ability for buyers to pay for vehicles in cryptocurrency or to use their cryptocurrency as collateral for what is often a lower cost loan. With more than half of Millennials now owning crypto, CarNow is increasing dealer capabilities for this fast-growing market of buyers who want more financing and purchasing options at the dealership.”
At rollout, buyers may choose from the “top 20” coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Tether, Litecoin, USDC, Polkadot and Dash. Future platform enhancements will reportedly “include the ability to split the purchase price among multiple coins.”
Dealers interested in finding out more about this update may check out CarNow at Booth #1771W at NADA 2022 for a demo or go to https://www.ciondigital.com/auto.