Cryptocurrencies are numerous and universal and can be used as fully private bank accounts and payment cards for almost any occasion.
1. Fees
There was a time, not too long ago, when cash was king and financial institutions gave generous incentives to people who chose to put their cold cash into the institutional treasury. Today, bank accounts of all kinds, as well as debit and credit cards, have fees associated with them - money that is wasted and does not provide any benefit, not to mention the interest earned. There are debit and credit card fees, ATM issuing fees, trading fees, checking account fees, overdraft fees, paper fees, check fees, transfer fees, change fees, refund fees, foreign exchange fees. transactions, minimum balance fees, inactivity fees, false fee reductions, and so on and so forth.
For comparison, popular cryptocurrency payment gateways, such as Bitpay and Coinpayments, take from 0,5 to 1 a percent per transaction. In most cases, a cryptocurrency account in the form of a digital wallet is completely free, and unless you decide to invest in hardware purses of cryptocurrency or prepaid cards, except for transaction fees, using cryptocurrency as money is absolutely worthless.
2. Sensitive data
Banks and lending institutions, as well as retailers and service providers, receive and store too much personal and financial information of their customers. Detailed information, including our name, address, employers, social security number, equity, assets, investments, account balances, credit rating, credit line and transaction history, as well as everything we do and buy, with whom we communicate, when, where, etc. include our personal, professional, and financial datasets. With traditional financial institutions and traditional paper currencies, we can no longer maintain our confidentiality.
Cryptocurrency transactions provide an alternative, limiting the number of transaction data to primes, also known as wallet addresses of cryptocurrencies and transaction identifiers, confirming that the wallet-to-wallet transaction has occurred. The third-party payment processor in cryptocurrency usually requires your name (and delivery address for delivering physical goods), but the rest of your information will remain confidential unless you connect your bank account or credit card and make transactions exclusively BTC and Altkounah.
3. International use
Cryptocurrencies are an infinite medium of exchange, allowing instant and cost-effective transactions throughout the world. There are no expectations, no international fees, and no restrictions on who can or cannot send funds, to whom or when and where these funds can be available. All that is needed is a device with Internet access, such as a mobile phone, and someone who does not have access to a banking institution is provided with an alternative solution with which he can pay bills, earn income, save his money, make purchases and do business.
The use of cryptocurrency while traveling adds an extra level of security and can be used as a remote source of emergency funds that can be accessed without identification, bank account, credit cards, bank transfer or even a personal computer device.
4. E-commerce
Accepting online cryptocurrency has never been easier. Merchants Shopify and Etsy can accept BTC, BCH and altcoins. The Woocommerce and Easy Digital Downloads providers can use WordPress plugins such as Mycryptocheckout for this purpose. And then there is Shapeshift, which gives customers the opportunity to pay dozens of cryptocurrencies. Shapeshift is integrated with cryptocurrency payment processors, such as Bitpay and Coingate, and cryptocurrency wallets, such as Coinomi and Keepkey.
In addition, there is an online platform Purse.io, where users can buy goods from Amazon using cryptocurrency, as well as it is integrated with Shapeshift, as is Magento and Openbazaar. Setting up cryptocurrency payments is very simple and fast, and transaction fees on 60-70 are lower by percent than transaction fees.
5. No charges
Unfortunately, there are customers who make a purchase, receive the ordered goods and, perhaps, even use them only to cancel a payment. They can do this because payments are not instant.
With cryptocurrencies, everything is different. Once the transaction has occurred, there is no return. The funds “travel” from one purse to another, the transaction is recorded, and it cannot be canceled. This does not mean that the customer cannot return the product and request a refund directly by contacting the seller. Of course they can. What they cannot do is place an order, pay for it, receive it, and then receive the amount they returned to their account due to the refund policy of online payment processors and credit card companies.
Debts on the return of funds are designed to prevent fraud, and yet they often do the exact opposite. In this case, the cryptocurrency works the same way as cash. Once you have taken an item for which you paid in cash, you cannot return to the store with a damaged or used item, let alone empty hands, and demand your money back.
6. Mobility
Mobile payments have become more and more fashionable. The ability to use a smartphone instead of a credit card is very convenient.
From Paypal and Apple Pay to Mastercard Paypass and Visa Paywave with near-field communication (NFC) technology and modern POS- terminals have never been so easy to receive a check. Nevertheless, the same confidentiality and security problems arise as with other traditional financial transactions based on decrees, namely: too much data in one place. All currently available FATA mobile payment systems store credit card information, which includes all our financial information and much more. Not to mention the fact that all this data is online and on our mobile devices wherever we are.
Cryptocurrencies are a safer option for digital cash and are ideal for default mobile payments due to their virtual, decentralized nature.
7. Growing market
Bitpay, one of the most successful crypto-payment gateways, processes transactions worth 1 billion dollars a year at a quarter-million transaction rate per month. Coinpayments already serves millions of suppliers in 200 countries and has just integrated with Bittorrent to provide its 100 users with millions of payment options with BTC and Alt-Coins. Coingate serves 50000 merchants and has processed hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrency payments, and Utrust has just entered into a partnership with Payrexx and its 10 000 European merchants.
Integration and partnerships between cryptocurrency payment processors and fiat payment processors continue, and the market is expected to grow by 50 percent over the next two years. In particular, Foton announced plans to attract 100 to millions of users for 2020 and offer competitive features, including its own stable coin, fiat pairs, atomic swaps, loan and escrow services, as well as a payment card with loyalty and cash return.
Therefore, there is no doubt: millions of merchants around the world accept cryptocurrencies, like tens of thousands of websites.
8. Commercial use
It is estimated that about 20 millions of people around the world own a cryptocurrency. Most others have heard of bitcoins, and many plan to add them to their portfolio.
Square, a credit card payment processor serving merchants, employers and mobile payment users, is gradually ahead of Paypal, while increasing its profits through BTC sales. Most Square retail customers showed an interest in accepting the Bitcoin core, and a study by the Cambridge Alternative Finance Center 2017 of the year confirmed that 40 percent of consumers would really like to be able to shop with BTC.
Countries with weaker than average Fiat currencies tend to prefer cryptography. Turkey, Venezuela, Brazil, Australia and South Africa seem to have a large number of cryptocurrency users. In fact, a whopping 80 percent of Australians would like to use cryptocurrency for daily purchases. Traders in Eastern Europe and small Western European cities seem more open to adding bitcoins as a payment method. Even before 2017 came to the cryptocurrency market in the year, more than 10 percent of Eastern Europeans reported using cryptocurrency instead of paper money for everyday purchases.
Crypto is like money
Nowadays, almost everything can be paid for with cryptocurrency: houses, apartments, boats, cars, clothes, electronics, goods for health and pets, food, wine, accessories, plane tickets, vacation, instruments, musical instruments, and also dating services. , professional services, Internet services and, of course, crypto-equipment.
Without pointing out the obvious, let's consider the most interesting things that digital currencies can buy:
Enjoy a Thai or Indian restaurant in Montreal or try Dutch pancakes in Aruba.
Buy vintage furniture in Massachusetts or rent an office in Miami
See the Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua or rent a yacht in South Florida
Buy a Benz or Beamer in California or Rolex in Europe
Market according to experts
In January, the Bakkt company, owned by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which also owns the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), will launch bitcoin futures, which will be paid at BTC rather than in cash. Its partners are Microsoft, Starbucks and Pantera Capital. There will be no trade in leverage, which means that the actual bitcoin will have to be bought and owned during the term of the contract. Given that these are institutional investors, it is expected that the volume of BTC will reach new heights. ICE CEO and NYSE Chairman Jeff Sprecher stated that digital assets are being saved and that they "have a future in regulated markets."
Obviously, the cryptocurrency industry has grown rapidly over the past 10 years since the birth of Bitcoin. Fintech is transforming the financial industry, and more and more people are gaining momentum. Shopping in the store and on the Internet is becoming completely digital, but it raises concerns about cybersecurity, which can be drastically reduced with wider adoption of cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
Do you think cryptocurrency payments will continue the trend? Is this the road to mass adoption?