Crypto growing as a form of payment method for online purchases

22^nd May 2010 marked a historic day for the world of cryptocurrency. On this day, the first public transaction using Bitcoin (BTC), the first cryptocurrency to enter our lives, was made by Laszlo Hanyecz. The programmer from Florida will go down in the history books forever for purchasing two pizzas from Papa Johns for 10,000 BTC. According to coinbase.com, 10,000 BTC is worth US $920275450.00 today, but the value was significantly less when cryptocurrency first emerged into our lives over a decade ago.

Two pizzas from the American fast food chain Papa Johns in 2010 were worth US $41 and at its current value, 10,000 BTC would nearly make Hanyecz a billionaire right now. The stark difference in value is indicative of two things. Firstly, the growth in monetary value of not just Bitcoin, but other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Solana, and Tether. Secondly, the two values at either end of a 15-year period and all the different prices cryptocurrencies have held at different points of history in between represent the wildly erratic and fluctuating nature of cryptocurrency in the modern world.

Signs of Crypto in Everyday Life

However, the fact cryptocurrencies can hit such heights means they are relevant and the conversation around cryptocurrency has been growing ever louder since Hanyecz put the digital currency on the map with the history-making pizza purchase. That purchase set a trend and tech companies immediately got to work developing blockchain technology and more significantly, its incorporation into everyday life to make further uses of cryptocurrencies possible.

Nowadays, although cryptocurrency remains unstable and volatile, the movement has continued, no doubt aided by the digital movement that is sweeping across the world. With more companies beginning to implement the blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrency transactions, cryptocurrency is benefiting from the wider use of decentralised ledgers to extend its own influence.

In many industries and sectors, including health, education, finance, and government, blockchain technology is streamlining daily processes mainly involving large sets of data and data transfer to optimise workflow within businesses. What does this mean for cryptocurrency though? Greater use and influence across the globe.

The Future of Currency?

There are further, more obvious signs of cryptocurrency in action in everyday life in other popular industries. In entertainment, the emerging online casino industry is one of the most prominent representations of cryptocurrency in action. Many online casinos around the world have introduced ways to include the more popular and higher value cryptocurrencies as a payment method on their platforms. There are even “crypto casinos” that exclusively trade in cryptocurrency. 

Of course, within an industry that offers digitally enhanced versions of casino classics such as blackjack, roulette, poker, and slots, more traditional payment methods such as debit and credit cards are still extensively used, with the latter especially enjoying a rise in usage in recent years. The game of online slots has proved particularly popular worldwide and slots that accept credit cards are appealing to online casino enthusiasts due to the level of security around transactions with credit cards and the speed of transfer.

However, when it comes to speed of transaction, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are unrivalled. Transfers made across the digital ledger are made without the influence of third-party organisations, which saves a lot of time without the layer of scrutiny imposed by banking institutions. While cryptocurrency itself is unstable, blockchain technology is proving extremely reliable, due to the transparent nature of the ledger and the encrypted nature of data that makes it exceedingly difficult for hackers to penetrate and acquire it.

Cryptocurrency is still trending and slowly gaining more influence in the world. The key question for cryptocurrency lovers is whether it can remain stable enough to be a reliable currency. There is no doubting the fact cryptocurrencies could be the future of finance, which is represented by the increasingly widespread usage in modern day society. With the digital wave expected to grow larger and stronger, cryptocurrency users will be looking to ride it into the future too.