By George Ward
Paying With Bitcoin
In 2023, there was a considerable increase in the number of merchants who supported Bitcoin (BTC) for payment settlement, leading to a surge in the global acceptance of BTC payments. Data from BTC Map revealed a threefold growth in businesses that started accepting BTC payments above other cryptocurrencies in the last twelve months.
The number of businesses that accepted Bitcoin rose from 2,207 to 6,126 in one year. Several companies that adopted BTC payments include restaurants, bars, shops, and service providers.
It is worth mentioning that many clients were also open to using this cutting-edge payment method. This sharp growth in the BTC payment adoption rate reflects a growing trend of cryptocurrency acceptance among businesses.
Despite this spectacular growth, there was a slight decrease from the peak number of merchants accepting BTC payments after September. Nevertheless, the overall trajectory indicated that there would be significant growth throughout this year, demonstrating a substantial shift in the digital payments landscape.
How BTC Map Works
BTC Map uses open-source mapping data from OpenStreetMap, enabling individuals and companies to access information regarding sites that accept Bitcoin payments. Thus, this increase in the number of listed merchants could relate to individuals actively contributing to the database, as the system can tag them as businesses that accept Bitcoin.
Individuals can play a significant part in expanding the platform’s repository of businesses favorable towards BTC payment adoption by utilizing the collaborative functionality of OpenStreetMap. They can maintain and add businesses to the database.
The community-driven nature of this platform is highlighted by its reliance on user feedback. The more enthusiasts, customers, and businesses interact with this platform, the more they actively participate in increasing the visibility of BTC payment adoption within the database. This joint effort illustrates the growing interest in cryptocurrencies and demonstrates a collective commitment to creating a complete network of businesses that support BTC payments.
BTC Merchant Adoption Spread
The BTC Map reveals that many stores accept payment settlements with BTC in Central and South America. Comparatively, this number is low in Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, many businesses in Europe and the United States are willing to accept payments online in BTC.
Also, the Philippines is the country in Southeast Asia with the highest number of businesses accepting Bitcoin. In contrast, regions like Russia, China, and India have a small presence on the map, suggesting that many firms in these regions are yet to embrace BTC payments.
Observers believe that stores may be open to accepting cryptocurrency but may be cautious about this technology or prefer their local fiat currency. Their cautiousness could be due to the volatile nature of BTC’s price and other broader crypto market sentiments.
In addition, the risk-averse strategy of converting back to traditional currencies could be due to the unpredictable nature of the digital asset’s price.