15 major companies that accept Bitcoin as payment
In this article, we will take a look at the 15 major companies that accept Bitcoin as payment. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to watch 5 major companies that accept Bitcoin as payment.
The world of cryptocurrency is a strange one, and despite being around for well over a decade, anyone who dabbles in cryptocurrency is still seen as shady, although recent evennesses, which we’ll talk about more, may provide a reason behind this belief. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency in the world, created by a person with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity is still unknown. First used in 2009, when the price was close to $0, Bitcoin’s price has fluctuated wildly since then. To maintain the bitcoin blockchain, and ensure its completeness and consistency, miners engage in a method known as proof-of-work, which is extremely time-consuming, not to mention demanding on processing power.
As bitcoin began to rise in popularity, other cryptocurrencies followed, with the total number of cryptocurrencies now exceeding 12,000. The most popular of the other cryptocurrencies is definitely Ethereum, which also has the second highest market capitalization after Bitcoin and recently switched from proof-of -work to proof-of-stake, which is expected to result in a reduction of energy consumption by an incredible 99.95%.
While initially costing only a few cents, Bitcoin continued to increase in value over time. In 2010, the first transaction in Bitcoin was made by crypto enthusiast Laszlo Hanyecz, when he ordered 2 large pizzas from Papa John’s International for 10,000 bitcoins which were worth around $40 at the time. Today they are worth over $166.2 million. At their peak, they were worth over $640 million. In 2013, the price of Bitcoin jumped to around $100, which many considered to be a bubble. The price continued to rise steadily over the next four years, crossing $1,000 in early 2017. 2017 was the first year of stratospheric growth in the price of Bitcoin crossing $10,000 within the same year, a jump of around 1,000%. 2018 saw the first major crash after the currency became popular, ending the year below $4,000, resulting in many losing their investments. This volatility demonstrated by the cryptocurrency has not decreased or matured over time, as 2019 saw the price jump again to around $10,600 before falling to $7,200 in January 2020. But it was in 2020 and then the first three quarters of 2021 that the price of the cryptocurrency continued to rise with no end in sight during that time, peaking at around $64,000 in November 2021, before crashing over the next year to its current price of close to $17,000, with most other cryptocurrencies following suit , but shows even more volatility.
While crypto enthusiasts have long rejected regulation and have supported Bitcoin precisely because there is no regulation involved, 2022 has shown the risks of having something worth hundreds of billions of dollars and yet not being regulated at all, with fraud rife as well as corruption and manipulation. In 2022, one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies, Luna, completely collapsed, wiping out $45 billion from the crypto market in just one week. Earlier in November, FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Bahamas, collapsed after news emerged that Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research had a $5 billion position in FTT, the original symbol of FTX. FTX, the company valued at around $32 billion, went from the top to bankruptcy in just 10 days.
Due to the lack of regulation and volatility associated with Bitcoin, many countries have banned it, with nine countries banning it outright and another fifteen countries banning it implicitly. Some other countries, meanwhile, have embraced it wholeheartedly, including El Salvador which has actually made Bitcoin legal tender, with the same move made by the Central African Republic in 2022. Meanwhile, other countries have used it because of its anonymity and not to be regulated like Iran, which often uses Bitcoin to circumvent sanctions imposed by the West. Ukraine has been a major recipient of Bitcoin, using it to accept donations during the Russia-Ukraine war that began in early 2022.
While countries and governments have been wary of Bitcoin, many companies are now considering embracing Bitcoin and using it as a form of payment, representing a major growth for a cryptocurrency that for several years after its creation was primarily used for illegal, nefarious purposes such as e.g. buy illegal drugs or pay for illegal activities on the Dark Web. One of the first companies to adopt Bitcoin was a Fortune 500 company that started doing so in 2014. According to Bloomberg, in 2018, the 17 largest crypto processors handled $69 million worth of Bitcoin transactions, which was a significant decrease from 2017 which recorded 411 dollars million. Since chargebacks cannot be processed and the cost of using Bitcoin is high, many vendors refuse to use it.
In 2021, when Bitcoin set a new record for all-time high prices by a few days or weeks and people expected it to reach $100,000, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gave it a huge boost with CEO Elon Musk , which has historically favored Tweets over press releases, announced in March 2021 that Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) would accept Bitcoin as payment, while investing $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. However, in May 2021, Musk announced that Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) would stop accepting Bitcoin as payment, reversing course in just two months, citing the environmental costs of Bitcoin as the main reason behind this reversal, as if it were something the company hadn’t known about two months before.
Since Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) no longer accepts Bitcoin as payment, the list of major companies that accept Bitcoin as payment has changed from the previous year. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the changed list, starting with number 15:
15. Coca-Cola Amatil Limited
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $1.73
One of the largest distributors of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Amatil announced in June 2020 that its vending machines would also accept cryptocurrencies as payment.
14. Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY)
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $2.3
Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) is an American e-commerce company. There are well over 100 million items for sale on Etsy, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ETSY) marketplace. There are many different products on Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) that can be purchased through Bitcoin.
13. Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK)
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $2.55
Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) is an American retailer that primarily sells furniture. Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) became the first major retailer in the world in 2014 to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment. However, Bitcoin payments only make up less than 1% of the company’s daily cash intake.
12. Norwegian Air
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $4.1
Norwegian Air is the largest airline in Norway. The company has invested in a Norwegian cryptocurrency exchange, and is paving the way for accepting cryptocurrency as payment for its services.
11. Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR)
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $5.73
Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR) is the owner of Burger King, as well as the popular Canadian coffee shop chain Tim Hortons, which was formed through the merger of both companies in a deal worth $12.5 billion. Burger King in Germany has started accepting payments in Bitcoin.
10. Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM)
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $6.58
Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) is a fast food restaurant company that owns some of the most famous fast food brands, including KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut, one of the largest brands of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), announced in late 2020 that it would accept Bitcoin payments in Venezuela.
9. Rakuten, Inc.
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $12.12
The Japanese online retailer has allowed payments through Bitcoin since 2021.
8. Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM)
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $16
Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) is a subsidiary of Amazon, one of the largest retailers in the world. Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) has operations in the United States and the United Kingdom. You can also use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to make payments at Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM).
7. Virgin Group
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $16.6
Virgin Airlines and Virgin Mobile, subsidiaries of the Virgin Group both accept Bitcoin as payment for services.
6. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)
Total revenue for the company (in billions): $25.37
PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) operates online payment systems and currently operates in dozens of countries globally. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) allows you to buy, sell or hold cryptocurrency.
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Disclosure: None. 15 Major Companies Accepting Bitcoin as Payment was originally published on Insider Monkey.
