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"so far it failed at becoming a money" Bitpay (one of the largest Bitcoin payment processors in the world) processed a record $1 billion in transactions in 201

by mrb 8y ago

"so far it failed at becoming a money" Bitpay (one of the largest Bitcoin payment processors in the world) processed a record $1 billion in transactions in 2018. This impressive increase of people using Bitcoin to buy real-world products and services shows Bitcoin is doing very well as "money": https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190116005701/en/BitPay-Sees-Record-Year-Revenue-2018-1 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190116005701/en/Bit...

shkkmo 8y ago
1 billion is what, about 1% of supply of bitcoin? So less than that since this includes bitcoin cash as well? > In the past year, the BitPay wallet added integrations with major gift card brands, enabling users to buy gift cards in-app for travel, food, and shopping with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. They don't break out what types of goods/services are being purchased. I wonder to what percentage of their transaction are being used to sell / launder bitcoins associated with illegal activity by buying gift cards that can then be resold.
- intertextuality 8y ago
  Not sure why you're being downvoted here; I also would like to see a breakdown of what people are actually buying with bitcoin thru BitPay. To this day I still don't know anyone in real life who actually uses it over any other payment method.
  - Ibethewalrus 8y ago
    My 2c: its the 2-3 whales controlling 90%, just bouncing coins around. Hoping to build hype again
littlestymaar 8y ago
What you need to look at is the ratio between the amount in circulation and how much is spent every year. For $1billon in bitcoin this figure is ≈1%. For dollar (I'll take MZM[1] to provide a conservative result, but it would be even higher if you took M0 or just cash), this ratio is over 120%! So really, bitcoin isn't really used as money, and mainly as a highly speculative financial asset. Also, $1 billion sounds huge, but for a payment medium it's still really low: worldwide, last year that's also the order of magnitude of the transactions made in Vanuatu vatu. As a comparison, PayPal recorded more than 500 billions dollars in transactions last year. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WMZMNS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WMZMNS

by mrb 8y ago

shkkmo 8y ago

1 billion is what, about 1% of supply of bitcoin? So less than that since this includes bitcoin cash as well? > In the past year, the BitPay wallet added integrations with major gift card brands, enabling users to buy gift cards in-app for travel, food, and shopping with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. They don't break out what types of goods/services are being purchased. I wonder to what percentage of their transaction are being used to sell / launder bitcoins associated with illegal activity by buying gift cards that can then be resold.

intertextuality 8y ago
Not sure why you're being downvoted here; I also would like to see a breakdown of what people are actually buying with bitcoin thru BitPay. To this day I still don't know anyone in real life who actually uses it over any other payment method.
- Ibethewalrus 8y ago
  My 2c: its the 2-3 whales controlling 90%, just bouncing coins around. Hoping to build hype again

littlestymaar 8y ago

What you need to look at is the ratio between the amount in circulation and how much is spent every year. For $1billon in bitcoin this figure is ≈1%. For dollar (I'll take MZM[1] to provide a conservative result, but it would be even higher if you took M0 or just cash), this ratio is over 120%! So really, bitcoin isn't really used as money, and mainly as a highly speculative financial asset. Also, $1 billion sounds huge, but for a payment medium it's still really low: worldwide, last year that's also the order of magnitude of the transactions made in Vanuatu vatu. As a comparison, PayPal recorded more than 500 billions dollars in transactions last year. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WMZMNS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WMZMNS