Who is determining the future of the cryptocurrency era?
Author: Sponge
Author: Sponge
Bitcoin was born 10 years ago. As a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, the exploration of the feasibility of Bitcoin as a payment method has never stopped.
In recent years, with the ease of using digital currencies, more and more online merchants are opening up encrypted assets in various ways.
In January 2014, Overstock.com became the first large-scale online retailer to accept bitcoin payments. After that, many companies began to follow suit and launched bitcoin payment services. Bitcoin payment can be said to be very successful for a while, but due to problems such as price fluctuations, high handling fees, and slow confirmation speed of Bitcoin payment, companies can only choose to offline this business.
According to the latest survey by Chainalysis, the scale of commercial payments via Bitcoin has dropped by 80% in the past year. Regarding the sharp decline in Bitcoin payments, does this also explain the current state of the industry?
Recently, AT&T, the world's largest telecommunications company, announced that it accepts encrypted assets to pay bills.
Accept Bitcoin?
AT&T, the largest telecommunications company in the world and the second largest mobile phone service provider, has announced that it will accept online bill payments through BitPay. And BitPay is a popular cryptocurrency payment processor that converts cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies.
With this step, AT&T will become the first major mobile carrier in the United States to let customers pay in bitcoin through a third-party service provider.
When a customer uses an online bill payment service or uses an APP for mobile bill payment, he or she can log in to the account and select BitPay as the payment option, and then the payment can be made.
Through BitPay, businesses such as AT&T will be able to accept payments in bitcoin, traditional currencies or a combination of the two, potentially giving the company a technological edge in processing payments, a BitPay spokesperson said. He further stated:
“If a business using BitPay chooses to take 100% fiat currency, USD will be deposited into the business’s bank account the next business day, minus a 1% fee for Bitcoin fees throughout the process. The business is protected from any Bitcoin the impact of price fluctuations."
There are different voices in the encryption community. A Twitter netizen said: "AT&T is not going to accept bitcoin, they sell BTC for dollars, they only propose to accept it because many customers have cryptocurrency, we need real cryptocurrency enterprises."
Using BitPay to process payments, merchants can accept bitcoin or convert bitcoin into dollars, and if bitcoin is sold, it will be bad for the price of bitcoin, which is undoubtedly bad news for speculators. It would be good for the industry if merchants accepted bitcoin as payment and used the cryptocurrency to fund their business.
But now many cryptocurrency payment companies are choosing to connect to professional payment processors to attract more potential users, or to attract enthusiasts who want to find a place to spend cryptocurrency. Many users are also complaining about its operability when using cryptocurrencies. With the update of technology, the way of using cryptocurrencies is also updated and iterated.
The era of cryptocurrency payment is coming
Recently, the news that several major companies accept cryptocurrency payments has surprised many digital currency supporters. Cryptocurrency users can now watch movies at Regal Cinemas (movie theaters) and buy game items at Gamestop (TV game and entertainment software retail giant), It’s even possible to pay directly with digital currency at Whole Foods supermarkets.
The service, launched by payments startup Flexa and the digital currency exchange Gemini owned by the Winklevoss brothers, works by taking advantage of the digital scanners used by many large retailers that can accept payments from digital wallet apps such as Apple Pay. accepts mobile payments.
This may be the first opportunity for consumers to use cryptocurrencies to make purchases on a large scale, and four cryptocurrencies can be used: Bitcoin, BCH, Ethereum and Gemini’s stablecoin GUSD.
On the consumption side, this certainly gives consumers the freedom to use cryptocurrencies in stores, and it also brings benefits for those who pay their salaries in Bitcoin or do not want to deal with exchanges.
Summarize
Summarize
In the past, people were keen to allow coffee shops, retail stores or other chain stores to accept bitcoin payments, and everyone felt that the support of these merchants would represent bitcoin or cryptocurrency entering the mainstream.
Now, more and more merchants and giant companies are willing to accept cryptocurrency payments, but in essence, the increase in the number of people who accept bitcoin payments does not mean that the number of people using bitcoin payments has increased. The circulation and rise will solve the dilemma of cryptocurrency commercial payment, and it is also crucial to promote consumers' awareness of using cryptocurrency payments.
