Will Bitcoin become a widely used medium of exchange? Sheena Shah, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, said on Thursday that this method of payment was not accepted by merchants and that transaction costs were high, but that "is now changing", according to the APP of Zhitong Finance.
Although the market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency has recently reached $1.87 trillion, it is not large compared with more mature asset classes such as global equities ($90 trillion), bonds ($120 trillion) and gold ($12 trillion).
At present, however, many payment companies are seeking to expand their influence in the growing area of decentralization. For example, payment company Strike has recently traded with consumer solution providers$NCR Corp (NCR.US) $Enter into cooperation with Blackhawk Network, a supplier of branded payment products. Sheena Shah explained that this "may mean that a large number of brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants and cafes in the United States will be able to accept bitcoin payments in the near future."
In addition, Strike also worked with the Canadian e-commerce platform in early April$Shopify Inc (SHOP.US) $A partnership has been reached to allow merchants to accept bitcoin payments through the Bitcoin payment protocol Lightning Network (Lightning Network). Analyst Mike Fay said: "this is not a trivial matter. Merchants will benefit from such transactions because they do not need to go through traditional payment channels and therefore pay the corresponding payment processing fees. For consumers, buying goods through the Bitcoin lightning network may eventually lower prices, because merchants do not have to include payment processing fees in the cost of goods. "
Fidelity National Information Services Inc, a financial services technology company, said in early April that it would provide merchants with the ability to accept stable currency USD Coin directly.
Given that 85 per cent of US sales take place offline, it is more important to monitor the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in brick-and-mortar stores, says Sheena Shah. He pointed out that while Bitcoin's price volatility is well known, it could ease significantly if its use as a payment medium is more widely accepted.
In addition$Starbucks Corp (SBUX.US) $Recently, with the digital asset platform$Bakkt Holdings (BKKT.US) $Cooperate to provide cryptocurrency payment recharge service through its app, which makes Starbucks Corp one of the largest brick-and-mortar retailers currently accepting bitcoin payments. In early April, Bakkt allowed Bank of America Corporation's customers access to Bitcoin and Ethernet Fong, giving them seamless access to all digital assets and transactions.
However, not all businesses are willing to do so. E-commerce giant$Amazon.Com Inc (AMZN.US) $Andy Jassy, chief executive, said in mid-April that Amazon.Com Inc "may not be close" to using cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism.