According to a new infographic from BargainFox.co.uk growth will most certainly continue in 2016, as we reach the 7th year since Satoshi Nakamoto founded the technology as a response to the global financial crisis.
Indeed, unlike traditional currencies that are at the behest of government policy and banking institutions, bitcoin is traded across a decentralized peer to peer network that anyone with the internet can connect to. With no authority meddling with its creation or value, it's worth whatever the market dictates and can allow transactions all over the world without delay or ridiculous fees. What's more is despite publicly logging every transaction, it is virtually impossible to hack and no user information is stored in the blockchain anyway.
But what's drawing the average person to give it a try? The simple answer is why wouldn't they? Now that capital venture investment is at an all time high of $469 million and has experienced consistent growth since the currency's inception, developers have been able to make bitcoin a lot more accessible. Trades can be made through mobile apps, purchases are now no more complex than a credit card transaction, and there are even ATM machines in major cities across the world.
When exchanges like BitStamp grow by 160% in one year, it's clear that bitcoin's popularity is on the rise.
2015 also marked a huge jump in the number of merchants (stores, restaurants and other service providers) who offer bitcoin as one of their payment options. In 2014 it was 65,000, it's now over 100,000. This includes mega corporations like Expedia, Time Inc. and Microsoft. As well as online stores like Overstock, TigerDirect and NewEgg.
If online, sites allow you to easily pay during the checkout process. If in a physical store or establishment you may be asked to use a simple mobile app or their own interface, which is not too dissimilar to a credit card machine.
"Adopting bitcoin as a payment method is another way we’re responding to our customers’ diverse needs,” said Soren Mills, Chief Marketing Officer for Newegg North America. “Working with BitPay to implement a bitcoin payment option at Newegg was a seamless process and our partnership gives us the capabilities we require for high-volume e-commerce.”
BitPay is currently the leading payment processor and offers merchants a number of benefits, not least a cheaper transaction fee than the likes of Visa and Mastercard. This is no more than 1%, and once a bitcoin payment is received it can be automatically converted to their chosen currency, so they can accept it without necessarily investing in it themselves.
Another clear sign of bitcoin's growth is its daily transaction value of $289 million. This is way more than Xoom ($15 million), and more than Western Union ($216 million). Paypal only accounts for $397 million in transactions each day. Could we eventually be in a world where bitcoin is bigger than Paypal?
Though that may be a little while off, if these 33 indicators from Bargain Fox are anything to go by, there's no sign of bitcoin's growth slowing down.
Infographic by: bargainfox.co.uk