BitPay confirms Bitcoin as the most used crypto amid the bear market
The bear market threatened many crypto users to suspend Bitcoin payments as many of the cryptocurrencies lost valuations. However, Bitcoin user sentiment has not wavered one bit. It surprisingly still retains its position as the most used cryptocurrency despite the market volatility and reduced crypto payments.
Bitpay is one of the leading platforms where payments, exchanges and storage of cryptocurrency take place. The platform maintains regular crypto payments in the current bear market, and monthly transactions rose from 58,000 in 2021 to 67,000 in 2022.
BitPay recently shared its transaction records, revealing the state of crypto transactions in 2022.
Bitcoin payment accounts for over 50% of Bitpay’s total transactions
According to BitPay, the total transaction has decreased, but Bitcoin is still the most used cryptocurrency for payments on the platform. Merrick Theobald, BitPay’s Vice President of Marketing, made an outstanding comment about BTC.
He stated that BTC-based payments accounted for 87% of sales volume in 2021, but fell to 52% in 2022. Although sales volumes fell, more percentages of crypto payments were in BTC.
Theobald further commented on the sales effect of stablecoins. He explained that purchases of stablecoins were not affected by crypto volatility and contributed significantly to their sales volume. In addition, Theobald stated that net BitPay transactions maintain reasonable stability regardless of market downtime.
Although BTC payments remain the most popular, net transactions fell in 2022. For example, the data released by Bitpay shows that BTC transactions fell from 57% in March to 48% in July.
On the other hand, other cryptocurrencies’ payments increased significantly. For example, Litecoin (LTC) rose from 14% in March to 22% in July on BitPay.
BTC accounts for over 50% of the total sales on BitPay. Theobald referred to this as evidence of BTC’s relevance to use cases as described by Nakamoto Satoshi, the creator of BTC. He further explained that BTC’s increased usage is because it is the oldest crypto and has gained more popularity than others.
JPMorgan reports reduced demand for crypto payments
Theobald further suggested that people’s preference for BTC payment may be because selling BTC on exchanges is expensive, but using it to buy goods is cheaper.
BitPay is among the top global cryptocurrency payment platforms and is also known for administrative payments and donation drives in the US. It provides crypto payment services to many companies in the US such as Verifone, Shop.com and Newegg.
Bitpay’s report came as JPMorgan reported declining demand for cryptocurrencies as payment options over the past six months. JPMorgan’s global head, Takis Georgakopoulo, stated that banks currently accept few crypto payments.
He further commented that he does not foresee any increase in demand for crypto payments yet. However, the entire crypto community expects a better result to emerge soon.
Featured image Pixabay, Chart: TradingView.com
