Bitcoin Transaction Value Flies Past PayPal

Published 5 years ago on August 30, 2018

Bitcoin Transaction Value Flies Past PayPal

‘Bitcoin is dying’ say the haters. Well actually, it’s not. As a matter of fact, data now suggests that Bitcoin transaction value has finally surpassed that of PayPal’s, closing in on Visa. Let’s face it though, as a world leading transaction facilitator, Visa will take some beating.Many do argue that Bitcoin as a facilitator for payments is too slow and that scalability problems means it will never be able to cope with the demand seen within the likes of Visa, however, by proving its worth against PayPal, the Bitcoin community now have yet another argument against this. Bitcoin is growing and adapting, surpassing PayPal in this way is a huge benchmark for Bitcoin’s future. According to XBT, ARK Invest Crypto Analyst Yassine Elmandjra has discussed how Bitcoin has outperformed PayPal by a huge margin, reaching a transaction value of around $1.3 trillion transacted value in 2018 alone. PayPal sits behind with a value of around $1 trillion. Though Visa and other associated mainstream processors like MasterCard still sit comfortably ahead, with values in excess of $10 trillion. Elmandjra does however believe that comparing Bitcoin with the likes of Visa and MasterCard doesn’t give for a fair comparison. According to XBT:

“Elmandjra, however, agrees that we cannot compare Bitcoin and say Visa or MasterCard in terms of their Base layer transaction volumes. But he also points out that that was never the intention. He then pointed out that approximately $3-4 billion worth of bitcoin was transacted on a daily basis in 2017. The real deal in increased Bitcoin transactions isn’t in the volume, but in the total value, he tweeted.”

Why is this importantIt counters the argument that Bitcoin is dying a death. Actually, Bitcoin now seems to be handling a greater value of transactions that PayPal is, meaning people are transferring more money through the Bitcoin network than they are through PayPal. This is obviously down to the rise in Bitcoins popularity over the past couple of months and actually, PayPal is likely to catch up now the hype has died down.Even so though, its a significant finding and leaves Bitcoin in a strong position with regards to adoption of Bitcoin as a currency and of course, with regards to the adoption of the blockchain too. ReferencesXBT Investment Disclaimer

Robert Johnson

Robert first came across Bitcoin in 2016 during a meetup in Belgium, and has been hooked ever since. With a background in Economics, you can find Robert frequently looking at the Twitter feed of the SEC for any regulatory updates relating to Bitcoin and Crypto in general.