Known companies comment on the current status of crypto payments for retail customers.
In short:
Crypto payments
The topic of payment by cryptocurrencies has long been at the centre of discussion among sceptics who think that crypto is not useful. Despite the promising growth of cryptos and their excitement around the world through television, social media and celebrities, crypto payments are still niche and definitely unpopular.
Who’s using cryptos today?
As a rule, crypto payment is used where it makes sense. The Darknet market is a good example where, according to Chainalysis data from January of this year, the platform is experiencing new peaks. This is because these markets cannot use traditional payment processors.
source: Chainalysis
Nevertheless, the market in the hidden network fades away from the traditional drug trade, which is worth over $400 billion a year.
The big problem on the road
One of the biggest problems encountered, the entry of a crypto as a means of payment around the world is the lack of trust. For the vast majority of merchants and banking users, cryptocurrencies are still something unknown and untrusted. Peko Wan, Director of the Pundi X ecosystem, sums it up in words:
“The crypto is seen by people as complicated to use or risky to own.”
This is reflected in many companies which, after the introduction of the crypto wire as a means of payment, did not notice its use or was too small to maintain this possibility. A good example is a company that offers simulation flights in the UK, saying that after the introduction of the crypto payment option no one has used it yet.
Even among the investors and enthusiasts themselves, the crypto payments with Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptos are negligible. The only companies that successfully use cryptographic payments are those in the cryptographic industry where such payments make sense.
Volatility of cryptocurrency
Another problem is the variability of even the most established cryptocurrencies. Most people only know about crypto price fluctuations, which is not conducive to adapting payments with digital currency.
Stablecoins are a solution to the problems of fluctuations in leading cryptos. Transactions with them are fast and cheap. Crypto.com creates its stable coin within the ecosystem to help spread crypto payments. Unstable tokens will not really work as a means of payment, but stable ones can satisfy the market.
Are cryptic payments the future?
If the world were based only on physical banknotes, the cryptos would have been widely used a long time ago and perhaps paper money would have disappeared forever, but the cryptocurrencies compete with established electronic money systems that are used worldwide, and current knowledge of the cryptos is still very limited among citizens.
Definitely, cryptos have better efficiency and privacy than regular fiduciary money, but movements such as central bank issuance of their digital currencies do not help decentralised tokens to seize power. In China, the digitised yuan is put into circulation with effect mainly due to the convenience of tracking transactions.
Admittedly, worldwide, the use of banknotes has been declining in recent years and people are becoming increasingly interested in cryptocurrency, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, it’s still not much to change the current state of affairs
