The use of bitcoin in e-Commerce is on the decline. This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by blockchain startup Chain analysis Inc.

The report says that after reaching the peak of activity in September ($411 million), the turnover of the largest cryptocurrency-oriented processing services went down. By may 2018, this figure was already $60 million.

In June this year, this figure rose slightly to$69 million, but this figure is several times less than in the same period last year ($270 million).

The reasons for the decline of interest

According to the senior researcher of the International Institute of computer science Nicholas weaver, the irreversibility of bitcoin transactions is a problem, especially when a trading company or a consumer is faced with fraud.

Senior economist Chainalysis Kim Grauer sure that active use cryptocurrency for everyday calculations prevent still quite high transaction fees. According to him, they make it impractical to buy inexpensive goods.

The decline in activity in the use of bitcoin for purchases coincided with the peak of speculative demand for bitcoin, when in December last year its price almost reached the level of $20 000. After a deep fall to below $6000, in July this year, the BTC price began to show a rather sharp recovery. However, this did not serve as a catalyst for the demand for bitcoin for everyday purchases.

Grauer believes that the widespread use of bitcoin as a means of exchange prevents it from still high volatility, even if the price of BTC goes up.

Due to the decline in demand for bitcoin and high volatility, Stripe and Expedia services stopped working with it. According to experts, this trend contains a negative signal for long-term investors who bet on the fundamental values of cryptocurrencies and, in particular, on the growth of the use of bitcoin as a means of exchange.

Not everything is gloomy

However, not discouraged chief commercial officer processing BitPay Sonny Singh. According to him, despite the fact that bitcoin is almost not used to buy a conditional Cup of coffee, cryptocurrency is increasingly used to pay for freelancers.

Singh also stressed that compared to last year, the number of companies that accept cryptocurrency has increased five times.

Bitcoin enthusiasts continue to buy expensive goods for the digital currency, including furniture or even sports cars. In particular, representatives of the retail giant Overstock reported a twofold increase in sales of goods for cryptocurrency compared to last year. The company also noted that it is best for bitcoin sold furniture and laptops.

Let me remind you, last month BitPay bitcoin processing received a Bit License-a license to work with virtual currencies in new York state.