You're missing the most significant advantage to most merchants (in the US, at least): It can be exchanged without incurring any transaction fees. While large b

You're missing the most significant advantage to most merchants (in the US, at least): It can be exchanged without incurring any transaction fees. While large businesses see cash management as a not-insignificant expense, small businesses—especially sole proprietors—often don't see the additional effort and risk of handling cash as worse than the 3% they'd lose to transaction fees.