As demand increases, more merchants will be looking towards solutions that are convenient, cost-effective, secure, and accessible by large amounts of people
Blockchain has experienced a decrease in hype recently as the ICO bubble has officially burst and the market has slowed down. While likely temporary, entrepreneurs and companies have taken the opportunity to focus in on building and shipping products that can be instantly used.
One of the most compelling and obvious applications of cryptocurrencies are for daily transactions, both online and offline. While sceptics might argue everyday use of cryptocurrency brings risks such as volatility in prices, security concerns, and lack of usability, the data proves otherwise.
In Japan alone, over 10,000 retailers have started to accept bitcoin. These retailers include everyone from local diners to Rakuten, one of Japan’s leading companies with over US$7 billion in revenue in 2016.
On a global scale, retailers such as Overstock.com, Shopify, Intuit, Expedia, and Virgin Airlines have already started to accept bitcoin as a payment option. Even Deloitte announced earlier this week that they are testing employees paying for lunch using cryptocurrency.
In total, there are thousands of retailers either accepting cryptocurrencies or exploring ways to integrate them into their payment options.
Validation for cryptocurrency payment solutions
In Asia, consumers and businesses already accept various forms of digital payments, touchless payments, and digital money such as WeChat Pay. The integration of crypto payments would make sense as the user experience would be nearly identical to current e-payment methods, and crypto users continue to grow in most major Asian markets.
Naturally, there is still an education gap that needs to be solved, but as time passes, more and more people are becoming familiar and comfortable with cryptocurrencies, especially beyond speculative trading. The benefits of crypto payments include convenience, discretion, lower fees, and in some cases, the elimination of chargebacks.
One company, PumaPay, was the first company to introduce fully decentralised subscription payments on the blockchain and focuses on offering the flexibility and ease of use of credit cards with the advantages of blockchain. To date, their payment solution for merchants has attracted the likes of Wix.com, FashionTV, PornHub, Rent24, Ubex, and over 100 other companies.
You might be wondering how these transactions work. Put, PumaPay has a payment protocol that inverses the mechanics of the transaction and allows merchants to “pull” funds from customers wallets based on pre-approved terms. This means cryptocurrency can be used in real-time for transactions, eliminating chargebacks and fees besides what is needed to push the transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.
This allows the creation of billing mechanisms that are very common in people’s daily lives but were not possible on the blockchain previously. The outcome means businesses can now easily integrate cryptocurrencies into their payment systems.
Demand for crypto payments in distressed environments
Recently, Hong Kong protestors have made a vocal plea for merchants to start accepting cryptocurrency payments to help address the uncertainty being felt. As a result, malls and various retailers have begun to integrate cryptocurrencies.
Around the world, similar tensions have led to an increase in usage and demand for retailers to offer this option. In Argentina, the government re-established capital controls in September 2018, limiting the number of Pesos a person could sell on the open market. This has caused a strong movement of crypto advocates who understand how such usage can be a hedge against macro-political and economic events.
As this demand increases, more merchants will be looking towards solutions that are convenient, cost-effective, secure, and accessible by large amounts of people. The benefit of cryptocurrencies is that they check all of these boxes and are available with an inclusionary rather than an exclusive approach.
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Image Credit: André François McKenzie
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