Will the bank card networks accept Bitcoin as a mainstream currency?

     In an article co-written by co-founder Daniel Delshad, Ed Boyle, CEO of Blade, a payment processing platform that transfers digital currencies to traditional payment methods, said that if Bitcoin is to cross the chasm and reach mass adoption, it needs to be connected to the existing debit card network.

The number of bitcoin wallets in circulation and daily transactions has increased significantly over the past year, but despite this, there are still many people who have never used bitcoin (and, according to a recent Goldman Sachs survey, have no plans to use it).

While Bitcoin’s adoption curve is arguably better than the internet’s, it’s slower than the telephone’s. The internet languished in obscurity for years, and didn’t really take off until the network started to grow and network effects took effect.

The mobile adoption curve has risen faster and steeper, primarily because users don’t need a new network. Mobile phones have been interoperable with traditional communications channels (i.e. landlines) since the beginning.

Until now, the bitcoin industry has been focused on building a new, decentralized network for applications, like mining, storage, transactions, and trade.

It can be seen that if Bitcoin is to be consumed like sovereign currencies, it still needs to continue to work hard. None of the top 100 merchants in the world accept Bitcoin. In fact, according to CoinDesk’s recent Bitcoin Dynamics Report, 100,000 merchants accept Bitcoin payments, but this is only 0.3% of the total number of credit card payments accepted.

Merchant adoption has also not increased rapidly, although this has very little to do with baseline costs, and the amount of money merchant processors are getting is catching up to them, such as Coinbase and BitPay.

If most merchants don’t have the ability to spend Bitcoin, then it will never become widely adopted as a currency. The United States said that Discover Card and PayPal are still struggling with the perception of not accepting Bitcoin merchants, even though the number of merchants accepting it has increased by 100-250 times.

The reality is that 99.9% of the world's population does not own Bitcoin, and why would they? Today, you can't use Bitcoin anywhere, anytime, but you can spend money anywhere.

Crossing the Chasm

To cross the gap from early adopters to mass adoption, merchant acceptance of Bitcoin has become the norm rather than the exception.

When Bitcoin can be used to buy groceries and pay bills in people’s lives and work, it will begin to gain utility among the masses. Until then, it will remain a niche application.

Now is the time to consider interoperability and connect Bitcoin to existing debit card networks. By linking Bitcoin to these networks, consumers can directly access more than 28 million merchants around the world.

At the point of sale, users don’t need to install new apps, etc., and merchants don’t need a new program to sell. Users can spend their Bitcoin whenever and wherever they want, and we’re seeing a steeper adoption curve.

However, issuing a debit card is not easy. Almost all banks outsource their card programs to experts. In addition, regulations are constantly changing between countries and states.

Bitcoin companies, which are essentially ordinary multinational companies, are quite risky to launch bank card projects because they do not meet regulations and some well-funded companies have made big mistakes when bringing bank card projects to the market, resulting in many attempts being stopped.

You probably don’t want to see banks setting up wallets and mining operations the same way, and we don’t want Bitcoin companies setting up bank card programs internally.

It would make more sense to leverage experienced outsourced talent who can expertly handle chargebacks, refunds, fraud, know your customer, anti-money laundering, turnover limits and risk management.

Bitcoin debit cards are still rare, and many projects are unapproved or short-lived, often cobbled together by companies with little or no experience in management and other areas.

For bitcoin companies, bank cards could be a key enabler if they can turn into a long-term offering.

Huge potential

Both Bitcoin and blockchain have the potential to break through the past, with strong financial resources and superb technology.

As the history of the Internet shows, it takes several years for core technology shifts to achieve mass adoption and have beneficial impacts on our daily lives.

While mass adoption of Bitcoin and blockchain may still be several years away, accepting Bitcoin for payments almost everywhere would greatly increase Bitcoin’s utility, and therefore its potential value, accelerating its adoption.

While many companies are developing end-to-end solutions for blockchain and Bitcoin, debit cards will have a direct impact on accelerating adoption to mass adoption.