Overview of the development of global Bitcoin payments

Coindesk recently reported that the Swiss public university, the University of Lund, has begun accepting Bitcoin as payment for student fees. The school is working with Bitcoin Suisse AG. Every week, the Bitcoin paid by students is converted into Swiss francs by Bitcoin Suisse AG and then paid to the school. The exchange rate risk is borne by Bitcoin Suisse AG.

In fact, Luhn University is not the first university to open its arms to Bitcoin. Previously, the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, the University of Cumbria in the UK, King's College in New York, Flinders University in Australia, Simon Fraser University in Canada, and ESMT University Berlin in Germany have all accepted Bitcoin payments.

As the first university in the world to accept Bitcoin payments, the University of Nicosia stated at the end of 2013 when it announced that it had begun accepting Bitcoin payments that the school made this decision in order to alleviate the difficulties encountered by some students in exchanging currencies. It believes that digital currency will serve as a new mechanism to improve financial services in regions where the global banking industry is underdeveloped, and the school also hopes to accumulate practical experience in this field by participating in Bitcoin payments.

From this point of view, from the time Bitcoin was launched in 2009 to the end of 2013, its outstanding advantages in cross-border circulation had at least been recognized to a certain extent. At that time, Bitcoin had become an effective supplementary means in the specific situation of " cross-border currency exchange troubles " and " underdeveloped banking service system " .

Moreover, in the past few years, most of the above schools have successively opened Bitcoin-related courses or subject experiments. Dr. Gregory Thornbury, a board member of King's University in New York, once said, "Educational planning accepts revolutionary technologies in the field of payment. This is something everyone needs to learn, and Bitcoin is one of them."

As institutions of higher learning that research, inherit and innovate advanced academic knowledge, the deeper significance of universities opening their arms to Bitcoin payments lies in that they can conduct in-depth research and disseminate the emerging encrypted token payment method represented by Bitcoin from the perspective of financial innovation theory and practical economic significance, promote Bitcoin to play its positive value, and have an important influence on building trust in Bitcoin payments worldwide.

As trust in Bitcoin grows around the world, the attitudes of many countries towards Bitcoin payments have shifted from questioning to tolerance and encouragement. Bitcoin payments have gradually expanded from non-profit organizations such as universities and charities to a wide range of commercial service scenarios. The following table lists some of the more influential Bitcoin payment cases in recent years.

From this long list, it is not difficult to see that Bitcoin payment has made smooth progress in many countries on all continents around the world. This includes online Bitcoin payments on social, gaming, e-commerce and other websites, as well as offline payments by major retailers and service companies. The types and number of commercial institutions that can accept Bitcoin payments are growing continuously.

Lieferando.de, a German food delivery portal that recently began accepting Bitcoin payments, once said: When paying with Bitcoin, the handling fee we bear is less than 1%, while a 6% handling fee will be charged when paying with credit cards and PayPal.

Although there are differences in the Bitcoin payment fees charged by Bitcoin payment service companies in different regions around the world, in most cases, they are still much lower than traditional payment methods. This is one of the main reasons why more and more merchants choose to accept Bitcoin payments. However, due to the fluctuation of Bitcoin prices, most merchants still choose to convert Bitcoin into local legal currency for settlement immediately after receiving it, which is also one of the regular services provided by current Bitcoin payment service companies.

In addition, those who pay close attention may find from this list that many leading Bitcoin payment service companies play an extremely important role behind the rapid development of Bitcoin payment in these countries. It can be said that the expansion of the recognition of the reliability of Bitcoin technology + the tolerant attitude of national policies + the active market expansion behavior of Bitcoin payment service companies have jointly contributed to the development of Bitcoin payment today.

Among them, the US Bitcoin companies Bitpay and Coinbase have developed into the world's leading Bitcoin payment service companies after years of hard work. Starting from the US and European markets, they have gradually radiated to many countries and regions around the world, making important contributions to the development of Bitcoin payments worldwide.

According to the Bitcoin Payment Report released by Bitpay in October, the scale of its Bitcoin payment and collection has increased by 328% since 2016, and is currently accelerating to break through the scale of Bitcoin payment and collection business of more than 1 billion US dollars per year. From the perspective of its covered partner institutions, Bitcoin payments have seen significant growth in the United States, Europe and Latin America in the past year, and the Asia-Pacific region has also begun to grow rapidly.

At present, there is no reliable number for how many merchants accept Bitcoin payments worldwide. According to limited public data, there are about 47,000 partner companies that accept Coinbase's Bitcoin payment services, and Bitpay's partner merchants exceeded 44,000 in 2015. The number of Bitcoin payment partner merchants in Japan alone is expected to exceed 400,000 this year. In addition, in countries and regions with underdeveloped banking systems such as the Philippines and India, some people have a clear demand for Bitcoin payments, while in countries and regions with extremely serious fiat currency inflation such as Venezuela, Bitcoin has become a mainstream payment method. Overall, although the development speed of Bitcoin payments is uneven worldwide, it is generally in an upward development stage.