Why Cryptocurrencies are not being used as a Currency?

avatar

Why Cryptocurrencies are not being used as a Currency?

Source: Pexels

Why Cryptocurrencies are not being used as a Currency?

Cryptocurrencies have gained worldwide attention in the past few years, with more people becoming aware of their potential. We, the Hive community, know this better than anyone: we're all here posting and accumulating crypto (e.g. Hive). But, despite this increased awareness, cryptocurrencies are still far from being adopted by stores as a payment method.

Why this is happening? Do cryptocurrencies have drawbacks that make them unpractical to be accepted as currency?

One of the biggest reasons why stores are not willing to adopt cryptocurrencies as a form of payment is due to its volatile nature. Cryptocurrencies are known to be highly volatile, meaning that their prices can fluctuate significantly over a short period of time. This can present a huge risk for stores that accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, since they do not know how much the currency will be worth when they receive it.

Yes, there are some payment systems that automatically convert Crypto into Fiat Currency, so sellers always receive the exact amount in Fiat. But, if that's the case, why use Crypto in the first place?

$HBD, and other stable-coins, have the similar problem: yes, you can be sure that'll receive the Fiat that you want... but why use $HBD and not, for example, the US Dollar itself?

Source: PayWong

Another reason why cryptocurrencies are not adopted by sellers is due to their lack of regulatory oversight. Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated, meaning that there is no guarantee that they will remain secure and valid over time. This can make it difficult for sellers, especially for large sellers like huge companies and conglomerates that have to follow regulations from SEC, to trust that the tokens they receive will retain their value in the long run. Additionally, there is also a risk of fraud or theft with cryptocurrencies, as the victim of a fraud won't have any help from a central authority.

The complexity of the technology behind cryptocurrencies can also be an issue for stores seeking to adopt them. Cryptocurrency transactions require special software and not-trivial knowledge in order to take place, which can be difficult and expensive for smaller businesses to obtain and maintain. Additionally, there are also complicated tax implications associated with accepting cryptocurrency payments, which can further add to the complexity of adoption.

Finally, there is also the problem of merchant acceptance. Since most shops and stores usually do not accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, customers are usually also unwilling to use them even if they are offered as an option, instead using commonly-accepted payment methods like credit cards. Why would a customer go out of his way, buy crypto, and use it as a payment method instead of using his credit card? This means that businesses may not get enough customers using cryptocurrencies in order to make it worth their while to accept them as a form of payment.

In conclusion, while cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular in recent years, they are still far from being adopted by stores as a form of payment due to their volatile nature, lack of regulation, technological complexity and low merchant acceptance. Until these issues are addressed, it is unlikely that we will see widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies in the near future.

Thanks for reading this post, and until next time!

If you enjoyed the post, feel free to follow me as I'm routinely writing about Gaming, Investment, Fitness and Literature, and posting about other random fun subjects like Travel, Photography and Metal Detecting!

If you want to play fun NFT Games, I do strongly recommend 🎮Splinterlands🎮, 🌟RisingStar🌟 and 🌱dCrops🌱. Send me a message if you need help starting out!

And, if you're feeling lucky, go to HiveSlotGames and win money by playing on the 🍀Roulette🍀, 🃏BlackJack🃏, 🎲Dices🎲 and 🎰Slots🎰!

Unless stated otherwise, all images are created and owned by me.
This is definitely NOT financial, legal or investment advice. You wouldn't get your financial advice from a squirrel, would you? Cryptocurrencies are very volatile, so don't invest what you can't afford to lose.
Also, believe it or not, I'm not actually a squirrel! This handsome rodent in my profile picture is a character from 'Conker: Live & Reloaded'. Here's Real Life me!

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta



0
0
0.000
15 comments
avatar

I think currently on-ramp/off-ramp fiat-crypto is still costly so this extra cost isn't making it sweet.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Yeah, the higher costs for the merchants are, indeed, making things difficult.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations @luizeba! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)

You got more than 46500 replies.
Your next target is to reach 47000 replies.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Check out our last posts:

LEO Power Up Day - February 15, 2023
Valentine's Day Challenge - Give a badge to your beloved!
The Hive Gamification Proposal
0
0
0.000
avatar

I'm the owner of an e-commerce micro-business. I would love to take crypto payments, but don't. The main reasons are;

Our customer demographic is older and quite conservative, with many of them associating crypto with criminal activity. Yes, I know it's less used for crime than US dollars, the issue is customer perception not reality, and trying to educate them isn't easy !

Additionally, we are in a niche with razor thin margins. So far I haven't found a crypto checkout that's compatible with our website platform (a commonly used one) that both has comparable fees to traditional payment processors and can take the crypto's we would like (which includes HIVE and HBD). In many cases, the fees only make sense for larger transactions, when our business model tends to include taking a lot of lower-value orders.

The cost of the off-ramp to fiat could be important later, but initially I'd probably just take payments to a personal wallet and declare it as part of my salary or dividends for tax purposes.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I feel you. Some months ago a friend of mine started a small online business (selling a very niche product on Instagram), and asked for some help in order to setup an automated store. I couldn't find a single checkout that accepted Crypto and that was also reasonably good (eg low fees, easy integration, etc.).

!LUV

0
0
0.000
avatar

You have listed some valid reasons why "it's still don't happening", but there is another very big and important reason... Cryptocurrencies aren't being used as a currency as "those in charge" don't want to! Banks and governments all around the world are against cryptocurrencies for just one obvious reason... They can't control it! When they find a way to control it (create their token) everyone will use crypto...


I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project which will be highlighted in the next post!

Comment Footer.jpg

0
0
0.000
avatar

but why use $HBD and not, for example, the US Dollar itself?

Many areas cannot safely or securely access USD, especially in digital form.

Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated, meaning that there is no guarantee that they will remain secure and valid over time.

Regulation cant make this guarantee either.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

0
0
0.000
avatar

Cryptocurrency remains more difficult to use than fiat currency. Even with advances in technology, application development, user interface design and user experience, it remains more difficult to use than local currencies (or even foreign currencies). When these difficulties are overcome, more people will want to use cryptocurrency like most people use USD or EUR or even JPY.

What cryptocurrency does not need is regulatory oversight from a political government. For centuries, gold and silver were used as money-- true money-- and there was minimal to zero oversight needed for them. All that mattered was the combination of weight and purity of the metal. It didn't matter if merchants paid with reales, francs, zloty, or dollars since all were just names of weights of gold or silver.

When we buy milk and eggs, we don't buy them with stocks or bonds (i.e., securities); we buy them with money. Cryptocurrency is money in digital form, yet many people-- and the parties claiming oversight of cryptocurrency-- want to treat them as securities. That's a problem.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

0
0
0.000