Bitpay one of the leading crypto payment service provider reported a decline in Bitcoin’s dominance in crypto payment methods in 2021. According to Bitpay, merchant use of Bitcoin has dropped by 27 percent from 92 percent recorded in 2020 to about 65 percent in 2021.
Bitpay revealed that merchants are increasing the use of other cryptocurrencies to process their payments on its platform. Ethereum now accounted for 15 percent of the total transactions, stablecoins accounted for 13 percent while two leading meme coins, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin with Litecoin accounted for 3 percent of total transactions in 2021.
The decline in the use of Bitcoin was partly due to the rise and acceptance of stablecoins for cross-border payment, likewise, unlike bitcoin where the price is not stable, the value of stablecoins is steady irrespective of the market trend.
Despite the volatility in the crypto market in the last quarter of 2021, Bitcoin price rose by 57.64 percent from $29,374.15 it traded on 1st of January, 2021 to $46,306.45 it closed on 31st of December 2021. However, the volatility did not deter investors from holding on to the Bitcoin in their wallets.
BitPay founded in 2011, processes an average of 66,000 transactions per month and $1 billion in annual transactions with over 80 employees. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Pair said the company’s overall 2021 payment volumes rose 57 percent year over year.
Pair Said, “our business ebbs and flows to some degree with the price, when the price goes down, people tend to spend less, we have not experienced as much of a decline in volume with this recent pullback. It’s probably just a reflection of more and more companies that need to use this as a tool to conduct payments.”
As merchants begin to accept crypto payments, more companies are also stepping in, indicating the growing adoption of crypto in the payment industry. Last week, Investors King reported that PayPal was planning to launch its own stablecoin called PayPal Coin.
Pair said, “PayPal getting into this space has been great for our business because it causes companies to start asking the question of should they accept crypto payments”.
Bitcoin is 37.87 percent down from its All-Time High of $68,789.63 traded on the 10th of November 2021. At press time Bitcoin is down by 1.25 percent trading at $42,566.12
