Analysts say that the total market value of cryptocurrencies has now surpassed $2 trillion, of which about half is bitcoin.
Representative image. access point
ParisFrance: Four years ago, the fried chicken chain KFC tweeted from its Canadian account that it would accept bitcoin as payment for its "buckets."
the company said AFP their tongue-in-cheek campaign, โdigital tender for chicken tenders,โ sold out in an hour and the chain has not accepted crypto payments since, but online articles regularly recycle the claim that KFC โacceptsโ bitcoin.
Many other companies have tried to take advantage of crypto payments before abandoning their efforts, including Tesla and Dell.
Bitcoin will almost certainly never be practical for everyday purchases because its value fluctuates wildly and each transaction is expensive, energy-intensive and takes at least half an hour.
โNo one is going to walk into a KFC to buy a chicken burger and then have to wait 30 minutes to get paid,โ said South African developer and crypto expert Andre Cronje. AFP.
But now there are thousands of smaller cryptocurrencies with faster processing times and more stable prices.
Analysts say that the total market value of cryptocurrencies has now surpassed $2 trillion, of which about half is bitcoin.
Businesses are eager to get involved, and developers like Cronje are building the infrastructure to allow virtual currencies to be used to pay for everyday items.
But public acceptance is crucial, and corporations seem to be struggling to find the perfect formula.
'Watch the jockeying'
Microsoft typifies the emerging pattern of large companies dabbling in crypto.
The first rule: keep it away from the main business.
The tech giant has emphasized that shareholders will not be exposed to the ups and downs of cryptocurrency prices.
PayPal and Apple, two other cryptocurrency corporations, have made similar promises to their shareholders.
To keep crypto off its balance sheet, Microsoft has partnered with a company called Bakkt that allows customers to convert crypto assets into products like Xbox gift cards or load their Starbucks payment card.
Bakkt, which has received investment from Microsoft's M12 venture capital fund, went public last year and a flurry of big partnership announcements with the likes of Mastercard sent its share price soaring.
But then came the tailspin as he reported mounting losses and his business came under scrutiny.
The firm had said it expected to have nine million customers by the end of 2021, but its executives gave a figure of 1.7 million transaction accounts at the end of last year.
Meanwhile, PayPal got a lot of publicity for a "pay with crypto" feature launched in the US and UK last year.
PayPal's system converts users' crypto assets into money before passing the payment to providers.
But it's unclear how popular these services are: none of these companies responded to AFP requests for collection details.
Market watchers say it is too early to tell how these forays into crypto will play out.
"My point of view is not to get too excited just yet, but just watch the maneuvers," said CFRA research analyst John Freeman, agreeing that the hot air made it hard to predict what would happen next.
'When, not if'
The barriers to widespread adoption of direct crypto payments for everyday items are considerable โ perhaps even insurmountable.
Developer Cronje said it largely worked without the need for cash or regular banks by using services like BitPay and BitRefill, which allow crypto to be spent anywhere from Amazon to Uber.
But he accepted that his less tech-savvy friends would "go bankrupt very quickly" if they tried to trust the blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.
Instead, he envisions a future where people will still use credit cards and banks, but back-end tasks will be largely automated on the blockchain.
"This is a technology that, conservatively, will save you 20 to 25 percent of your overhead and your costs," he said.
"So it's not a question of if, it's a question of when."
Meanwhile, non-financial companies will continue to jump into the crypto space, often to emerge a bit wiser but not richer.
The Pavilions hotel chain, for example, partnered with a payments company last year to allow customers to use crypto, but found their business made little difference.
"Turns out no one likes to spend their bitcoins, not even on holidays!" Pavilions spokesman Tim Sargeant said AFP in an email.
โIt has shown us that Bitcoin is more of an investment tool than something people want to part with to pay for.โ
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