While Bitcoin may not yet be accepted as a medium of exchange for everyday items, at least one luxury model dealership as well as a digital asset advisory firm both are seeing a notable increase in customers wanting to transact in digital assets, primarily Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Digital Asset Investment Management (DAIM), headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., recently recapped the experience Marino Performance Motors (MPM), which retails exotic vehicles and other high-line models in West Palm Beach, Fla.

MPM sales and finance manager Gil Courchene said the opportunity to take advantage of this growing customer base.

“In the past year we have had so many people ask about paying for cars in crypto. We had clients flying in from across the U.S. looking at specific cars but they were intent on paying with cryptocurrency. I didn’t want that to be a dealbreaker for us,” Courchene said in a news release distributed by DAIM

Courchene set up the dealership to transact in Bitcoin and Ethereum, acknowledging that finding a trusted partner is the most important piece to supporting these transactions.

Courchene said using a licensed and experienced digital asset manager reassured the dealership that the transaction will go smoothly. That’s why the store teamed up with DAIM, which offers crypto advisory and management services.

“There are people who want to accept crypto and people who want to spend it, but there is a lack of familiarity with the process so finding a partner I could trust was paramount,” Courchene said. “Buyers who want to pay with crypto need to know the risks have been removed from the transaction.”

DAIM chief operating officer Mike Soroudi thinks it is important luxury retailers such as Marino Performance Motors become comfortable transacting in cryptocurrency.

“People see crypto as this confusing blackbox where transactions are flying around anonymously. Once the client sends a transaction, we tell them and the vendor to go on a block explorer and view the transaction in real time,” Soroudi said.

“Retailers can match the transaction ID, addresses, and amount and begin to understand the legitimacy and clarity of the system. At three confirmations they know the process is complete. In actuality there is more transparency and faster transaction finality than the legacy banking options available,” he continued.

DAIM sees what’s happened at Marino Performance Motors as a small step toward more efficient and open payment processing as well as improved treasury management.,

“We can get the transaction completed fairly quickly. Usually, the vendor will receive the cash back within the hour,” Soroudi said. “Interestingly, as companies complete more and more transactions, we see them wanting less and less cash back. They are becoming more comfortable with the idea of converting only the portion needed for immediate liquidity needs and keeping the rest in digital assets.

“Bitcoin is an excellent store of value, and in a low interest rate and high inflation environment keeping excess money in cash erodes the holder’s purchasing power immensely. Another strategy, we’ve used is keeping the money in a stablecoin with a 5% to 8% yield before deploying the capital,” Soroudi went on to say.