More than 4,400 merchants accept Bitcoin payments

BitPay , the largest and oldest Bitcoin payment website, has a daily Bitcoin transaction volume of $ 1 million and supports more than 44,000 merchants. In an email exchange with CNN , it stated that more than 4,400 of their merchants fully support Bitcoin payments, nearly 18,000 merchants use Bitcoin for part of the checkout, and the remaining 22,000 merchants still need to convert Bitcoin into legal tender.

BitPay’s biggest competitor, Coinbase , has inexplicably refused to offer a similar breakdown.

       The names of specific merchants that accept either all bitcoin or a mix of bitcoin and fiat currencies are not known, as only a few have volunteered this information. Overstock , one of the first $ 1 billion companies to accept bitcoin, said in a May 2014 statement that 10% of its purchases were paid in bitcoin, with the goal of increasing bitcoin revenue to $ 6 million per month. Another company, Amagi Metals , announced in August 2014 that it would only accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for gold and other metals starting in 2016 .

Bitcoin fundamentals continue to improve

    According to almost all measures, Bitcoin adoption continues to grow at a high rate. In 2013 , few, if any, of the world’s most notable companies accepted Bitcoin. In 2014 , the list is long, including Microsoft, Dell, PayPal, Wikipedia, Firefox, Greenpeace, Expedia, Newegg, Overstock and tens of thousands of other merchants. In 2013 , a respectable $ 80 million was invested in Bitcoin companies. This has quadrupled to $ 500 million in 2014 , boosting and strengthening the Bitcoin ecosystem. With Localbicoin and other platforms for P2P purchases, Bitcoin transactions continue to reach all-time highs, with demand being witnessed from falling petro-based currencies like the Russian Ruble and Venezuelan Silver. This paints a picture of the growing use, acceptance and adoption of the new currency.

       Yet the price of Bitcoin remains extremely depressing and full of speculation. From a lack of adoption to blatant manipulation of the Bitcoin price. Whatever the case, the more likely scenario is that the purchase process of Bitcoin is a barrier to widespread adoption, as it cancels out many of the benefits Bitcoin offers. Therefore, in 2015 , Bitcoin faces its biggest challenge yet.

Bitcoin’s “Gold” Standard

    Some people call it a virtual loop, I prefer to call it the "gold" standard of Bitcoin. Imagine, for example, that someone created a new B button that could be integrated into any system by simply copying and pasting it like a Facebook button. If you like an article, you can click that button and immediately send the amount of Bitcoin you like. The author, instead of converting Bitcoin into fiat currency, can use these Bitcoins to purchase goods from thousands of merchants that accept Bitcoin, which in turn can also pay their expenses, such as paying employees and suppliers with Bitcoin.

       Some of these standards are already in practice. For example, advertisers pay CNN with Bitcoin, and CNN in turn pays its writers with Bitcoin. The writers also encounter the same barriers that new Bitcoin adopters encounter. If they don’t convert their Bitcoin to fiat currency, they might use it to buy something from one of the 5,000 merchants that only accept Bitcoin payments. They, in turn, might use Bitcoin to pay their employees, thus closing the loop. In this example, everyone experiences all the benefits that Bitcoin offers, including zero to very low fees, near-instant transfers, complete privacy, and full control over their money.

       This may not be as impossible as you think, as thousands of merchants already fully accept Bitcoin payments, and tens of thousands of merchants accept some Bitcoin payments, thus laying the foundation for Bitcoin's full adoption.  

Will Bitcoin’s “gold” standard be widely adopted in 2015 ? What is your opinion?