The various discussions usually held around cryptocurrency are similar to that of stocks, in that most care primarily about the value of coins in terms of direct trading. When it comes to working with the ‘currency’ part of cryptocurrency, this can sometimes seem like a secondary concern. The movement to promote cryptocurrencies as commercially acceptable has been steadily growing behind the scenes, so how much has it achieved as of 2024?
The Big Name
For a lot of people, Bitcoin remains synonymous with cryptocurrency as a whole as it continues to be the ‘public face’ of the industry. It’s no surprise in that case that Bitcoin also has the highest acceptance rate amongst retailers and service providers, particularly those with a purely online presence.
However, even in industries such as online casinos where acceptance is seen as high, it still hasn’t come close to traditional counterparts. Amongst the largest companies, intermediary services like Paypal or Skrill remain far more popular for casino players, and if someone signs up to play digital slots or real money roulette online, they are infinitely more likely to do so with a standard debit or credit card. For now, Bitcoin holders can use a digital wallet to convert the coin into a fiat currency for payments, and the possibility of adopting direct payments remains an option, especially for the largest sites.
Prominent Alternatives
Outside of Bitcoin, there are a handful of well-regarded crypto coins that have seen success in day-to-day currency usage, but for each their range of retailers and services is limited. Ethereum is probably the most prominent other volatile coin in the public eye, but compared to the thousands of providers that will take Bitcoin, the relative handful of companies accepting Ethereum is nowhere near as impressive. Where in-person payments are accepted, it would almost always be via gift card or digital wallet with conversion.
Other well-known volatile coins such as Dogecoin or Solana suffer even more in this regard with only a scattering of businesses willing to work with them. The Binance coin BNB sees a little more use but continues to be used primarily on the Binance platform itself.
Stablecoins
As a subcategory of crypto coins, stablecoins are more unusual in that they use elements of both crypto and fiat currencies. The coins can still be traded as per any other and will certainly rise and fall in price, but by being tied to some national currency, they avoid the high volatility of others.
Big name Ripple recently announced a stablecoin launch, putting them alongside Tether and Circle as coins all tied to the US dollar. These coins are inherently safer for merchants to work with as the values are more or less consistent, and if any coins are truly going to see universal acceptance in everyday life, these are the ones most likely to do it.
Of course, cryptocurrency is unpredictable by nature, and considering that even some countries are now nationally approving crypto for payments, there’s no guarantee which way the world may move tomorrow!
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