CRYPTO: SWITCHING FROM SAVINGS TO PAYMENTS [INFOGRAPHIC]

If some 10 years ago cryptocurrency was something complicated and difficult to access, several years ago things changed. Financial experts started to consider it as a good asset. But it doesn’t end there. Besides investments, cryptocurrency is becoming more commonly used in daily life. And our research from the Scanteam team is here to prove it.

We’ve analyzed the development of this payment system over the years, taking into account the most popular consumption fields. According to this, 93% of consumers are considering using emerging payments in the next year. In addition to contactless, these include biometrics, QR codes, as well as digital currencies. So, what is the future of this currency, and is it worth your time?

USERS BUY WITH CRYPTO

The statistics show that the highest demand is for Prepaid cards and Gift cards. It means that 41.15% of users prefer to pay for these services via crypto. While the other popular areas are:

• VPN/Hosting
• precious metals
• games & entertainment
• some daily spending, including food

This shows that the ways to use cryptocurrency are much diversified: digital solutions, payments for other services via prepaid cards, investments, food, entertainment.

USERS PAY WITH BITPAY OR COINBASE

Our research also revealed the ways users find the most convenient to make payments. They are BitPay (27.18%) and Coinbase (14.95%). But Blockchain, Electrum, and Exodus Wallets are also rather popular. Plus, 21.8% of users selected the ‘Other’ option. As for BitPay, it’s popular both due to its convenient app and the Prepaid Mastercard. While Coinbase is a perfect place to start a crypto portfolio.

PROS OF SWITCHING TO CRYPTO

The rise of crypto’s popularity is due to several advantages that convince more and more users to try out this solution. These pros include anonymity, transaction speed, and security. That’s how it all works.

1. Anonymity is the first strong side of this payment solution. It’s especially popular in the iGaming industry.
2. Transaction speed represents another benefit: users don’t wait until the transaction is processed by third parties.
3. Security sums up the above. The payments are direct and protected properly.

MAJOR BRANDS THAT ACCEPT CRYPTO

It’s important not only to find out that users pay via crypto more often but to highlight the industries where these payments are available. We’ve checked the most popular directions and the brands that accept crypto.

TECH AND NETWORK

This is the largest industry where you can notice loads of familiar names you could use via fiat funds as well. No wonder, so technologies are not standing still, especially when it comes to payments. They are large brands, such as PayPal, Microsoft, MoneyGram, OneDrive, PrivateVPN, and Cyberghost. The companies from this list are working with 9 types of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

GAMES AND ENTERTAINMENT

This direction is also very popular: Zynga, Playasia, Aloha Tuners. First of all, online gaming requires fast and remote transactions that will allow users to start playing at once. Plus, the gambling industry is working closely with crypto: anonymity and high speed are the first priority of gamblers. And the growing number of crypto-friendly online casinos proves that there is a trend to it. The experts’ recommendations help gamblers choose a reliable casino and avoid scams. Streaming platforms are also here as Twitch also accepts crypto.

E-WALLETS

Here, we’ve highlighted 3 giants that allow users to provide transactions via this digital currency. They are Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Depending on your gadget and its operating system, you can effortlessly pay for any services that accept this payment solution.

CAR COMPANIES AND DEALERSHIPS

The giants of the automotive industry also switched to BTC transactions. Currently, there are only 2 brands on our list: BMW (the UK) and Lamborghini (Thailand and California). Plus, we take into account the famous case of Peter Saddington who managed to buy a Lamborghini Huracan for less than $115 due to his early interest in crypto.

ART

Buying famous pieces of art is also more accessible for the fans of this digital currency. Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest brokers, offers its customers to purchase jewelry, pictures, real estate, and other valuable things via BTC and ETH. Christie’s is another auction house based in Britain. It also works with these types of currency.

SPORT

Famous brands of the sports industry also use BTC and ETH for their transactions. These vendors are Miami Dolphins, Oakland Athletics, and some more famous clubs. This way, the currency is useful for different kinds of sport, including football and baseball.

E-COMMERCE

This direction also proves that crypto is perfect for daily needs, such as shopping. Platforms like Shopify, OpenBazaar, and Etsy are common among those who prefer purchasing various goods online. And the list of available currencies is also impressive: users can pick from 9 of them.

TRAVEL AND AIRLINES

This section is huge: a whole lot of travelling companies accept crypto. They are both the sites to book a hotel or a tour and the airline brands to buy tickets. The most common brand you could have already used if planning to book a room for a few days is Booking.com. While the other popular ones are Travala.com, bitcoin.travel, and Expedia.

FOOD AND BEVERAGES

Even daily spending of this kind can be paid for by using cryptocurrency. It shows that this solution is great not only for the IT industry. Of course, the majority of brands that accept it are big corporations. This list includes Starbucks, Subway, CCA, and Whole Foods. The owners of crypto wallets will never get hungry, right?

MEDIA

What about a portion of good entertainment? The brands that are advanced to work with crypto are Antiwar.com, Wikileaks Party, 4chan, and even, don’t be surprised, Pornhub. And it’s natural as the payment solution covers the entire spectrum of community activity. The range of available currency includes a bunch of types, such as Litecoin, Bitcoin, Litecoin.

NON-PROFIT

Charity is also in. It doesn’t matter that the brands of this kind don’t bring profit to their owners. Until they are using money to pay for various services, even if they are charitable, new solutions to make these transactions quick and fast are always required. For this reason, the list of non-profit crypto brands includes organizations like American Red Cross, Internet Archive, and Save the Children.

BUSINESS SERVICES AND MARKETING

This direction is not that well-developed yet, though the number of companies is rapidly growing. To date, the brands like RankWorks, goLance, and Aprio accept crypto to provide the smoothest solutions for business owners and freelancers. But remember to check the availability of this currency in your country.

BUY A GIFT CARD

Gift or shopping cards are a straightforward way to make a purchase if your shop isn’t on the list or to give crypto as a present. Each card has its value and can be converted into the currency you choose at the current rate. Among the most popular brands, there are Purse, Coincards, and Bitrefill.

SPOT A PLACE TO SPEND CRYPTO WITH COINMAP

Looking for venues where your crypto funds can be accepted? This map is a perfect tool to help you. There are over 20 thousand places where users can pay for services of different kinds. Whether this payment is online or land-based. Find out the opportunities for your region for your transactions to be instant and advanced. Spot the necessary place and let the map do everything for you!

CRYPTO PAYMENT COMING SOON

It’s obvious that more and more brands are going to change their payment policy so that cryptocurrency will be the available and even the priority solution. And when the giants like eBay, Google, Uber, and Amazon will implement it, a kind of digital revolution will take place. Crypto will become even more available and accessible, so it’s just a matter of time.

SOURCES

To make our research up to date and relevant, we’ve considered actual statistics from the following resources.

• Statista to find out the total number of transactions with different cryptocurrencies and learn about the number of Blockchain wallet users worldwide (November 2011 – May 2021);
• BitPay to understand what users pay with and find out the types of goods and services bought by Crypto;
• Tomsguide to reveal the top cryptocurrency 2021 by value;
• Ycharts and com to learn about the average BTC transaction fees and confirmed payments per day;
• Mastercard Investor;
• Coinmap to help readers find out the place to spend crypto;
• Decrypt and Docsend to find out Bitcoin’s Energy Consumption;
• Investopedia;
• FinancesOnline;
• Galaxy Digital;
• Coinbase.

Original research: https://scanteam.pro/crypto/