Cryptocurrency has become a recognizable term in the modern-day lexicon. Several cryptocurrency owners presently opt to engage with businesses where daily transactions can be conducted using this digital currency type. However, how have the merchants responded to this change?
People opt to own cryptocurrencies for various reasons, which range from the scarcity of available Bitcoin units to storing cryptocurrency for speculation – wherein the idea is to ensure profitability when any such cryptocurrency coin value increases vis-à-vis the Euro, Pound Sterling, or any other fiat-currency, i.e., government-issued currency. Reasons for ownership of cryptocurrency vary, from gaming enthusiasts using it for in-game purchases to everyday online shopping to paying for travel & holiday packages, to list a few.
There are several businesses that are keen on providing the latest and most effective service-solutions to their clients. Listed below are some of the benefits cryptocurrency presents, making it a viable alternative to fiat currencies:
Pseudo-anonymity: Cryptocurrency owners store their digital currencies in an encrypted digital wallet. A coin holder’s identifying details are stored in an encrypted address, which they alone have control over, yet it is not linked to the individual’s identity.
Decentralized: Creation and transactions using cryptocurrencies are open sources, being codified and reliant on peer-to-peer networks spread globally.
Cryptographic: Use of a system of encryption monitor coin-creation and verification of transactions.
Digital: Cryptocurrency is completely virtual or digital. They are stored in digital wallets and transferred digitally to other peoples’ digital wallets. No physical object ever exists.
Adaptive Scaling: Cryptocurrency’s ability to function effectively on both small or large scales.
Precision: Exact codes get executed with the use of smart contracts. This consequently ensures that there are zero errors.
Understanding the above-mentioned benefits, let’s take a look at some potential businesses where cryptocurrency has created a difference.
Travel
The holiday & travel industry is among the largest of businesses globally. An early economic forecast for 2024 anticipated the travel industry to generate a revenue of $ 1.7 trillion. Based on it, there was an expectation that the growing traveler-count of cryptocurrency owners would be making hotel or flight payments using their crypto-wallets.
There is a significant growth which has been observed in the number of businesses which are beginning to adapt to this evolvement. To cite an example, Parking Access, which is a parking reservation company, and Shuttlefare, which is an airport shuttle booking company, have recently added the option of BitPay on their websites for Bitcoin users to utilize cryptocurrency as a transaction option.
Banking
People are mostly reliant on banking institutions to be able to engage in conducting everyday transactions and a robust safekeeping of their money. Investments in various portfolios are also areas that banks actively function in, to help their customers in the process of wealth creation. Each year, globally, banking institutions have been observing an increase in their customer numbers.
Traditional financial industries, too, have not existed without certain challenges of their own, especially in the last couple of years. While there exist the examples of Zimbabwe and Venezuela, where their central banking institutions have been engaged in printing fiat currencies to arrest the prevalent decline in their respective economies, on the other hand, there are global industry spearheads such as the Deutsche Bank which have reportedly been embroiled in money-laundering scandals. There is a significant group of people who are apprehensive of the future of the traditional banking system, whether it may even be in existence in the future or not.
With an influx of Alipay and PayPal, among many services that offer rapid transaction times, the crypto-space needs to compete intensively to be able to either completely or even partially replace the existing systems of traditional banking. Among the most highlighted reasons in its list of benefits, the cryptocurrency space offers the establishment of a transparent system of banking.
Immutability and decentralization effectively ensure that all users connected within the network have a thorough understanding of all that is occurring inside the system, a feature that is absent in the structure of present-day banking systems. Banking institutions understand this. Hence certain banks, like the Bank of America, are engaged in the use of a solitary blockchain-centered network within which banking records are housed. Such a network also helps them authenticate an individual as well as business data.
Online Shopping
A global segment where an expansive increase has been observed is the online shopping sector. With the recent phenomenon quarantines, online shopping has opened up to a broader consumer base. Increasingly, rather than opting for a tiresome roundtrip from their nearby stores, people are growing very comfortable with the idea of remaining nestled within the safe environs of their homes and still being able to make an everyday purchase of commodities they may need. It is expected that the online shopping segment would generate $4 trillion in the year 2024. Hence, several cryptocurrency firms would be required to get engaged in the process of ensuring thorough global acceptance to make cryptocurrency transactions a reality.
The structure of blockchain technology would considerably help in upgrading supply-chains, such as ensuring transparency and security of payment services as well as establishing effectiveness in the segment of online shopping. A current example of this would be a user being able to scan a QR-code printed on a tetra pack of milk to learn about its complete product-journey until it got to the store. This is helpful in preventing the marketing of counterfeit goods.
Some businesses are, in fact, offering easy access to shop from some of the biggest online stores, such as Amazon. For example, there is a simple portal named Olodolo, which allows consumers to shop on AliExpress with the ability for them to make payments using various cryptocurrency types such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), among others directly.
To help the cryptocurrency revolution is gaining momentum, there is a need to bring about an increase in the number of global businesses where cryptocurrencies are recognized and actively used as an acceptable means of making payments/conducting transactions.
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