Global Bitcoin Payments Market to Grow $3788 Billion by 2031: Research

Since its inception, Bitcoin has grown in leaps and bounds. From 2015 through 2023, its price has increased by over 173,000%. In 2021, Bitcoin reached an annual growth rate of 60%. Globally, there are over 460 million Bitcoin addresses — making it one of the most popular cryptocurrencies on the internet.

In the last 24 hours alone, Bitcoins worth $10.9 billion were traded worldwide. With a market cap of $506 Billion, Bitcoin represents a dominance of 46.4%. And at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 16.3% from 2022 to 2031, the global Bitcoin payments market is expected to hit $3788.2 billion by 2031.

Ever wondered what triggered Bitcoin’s rapid adoption? After all, why do hundreds of thousands of businesses and millions of consumers rely on Bitcoin for conducting their day-to-day transactions?

In this blog, we will understand what makes Bitcoin a viable alternative to fiat money and why you should consider enabling Bitcoin transactions for your business. Let’s get going.

▹Completely decentralized and permissionless

No third parties or intermediaries are required to send and receive payments via Blockchain. Meaning there are no intermediaries controlling the transactions. Thus, a payment made via Bitcoin can not be frozen or reversed by anyone, which makes it a reliable currency for day-to-day transactions.

▹Widely accessible

As per a report from the World Bank, over 1.4 billion adults are unbanked. These citizens don’t have access to basic banking services like loans/mortgages and credit/debit cards for online payments. This keeps them from investing or borrowing money and limits their financial growth.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, can empower these individuals to be a part of the global economy. It can open up global trade opportunities and provide them with a safer way to store their hard-earned money. Unlike banks, Bitcoin can be accessed by anyone around the world. All you need is a smartphone and internet connection to transact in Bitcoins. This means if you enable Bitcoin transactions, you can reach a much wider global audience.

▹Seamless international transactions

Transferring money from one country to another through traditional payment gateways or a bank can be time-consuming, expensive, and unreliable. The payment processing time may vary from a few days to several weeks, depending on the type of transaction. Moreover, transaction fees on international transfers can cost you an additional 2% to 3% on top of existing charges. This can erode up to 30% of your payment amount.

However, Bitcoin transfers are borderless, instant, and cheaper to process. You can send and receive Bitcoins anywhere around the world in real time. The transaction fees levied by most payment processors on Bitcoin payments are generally between 0% to 1%.

▹Security

Since 2000, over 500 banks have failed, wiping billions of dollars from the economy. Bad management decisions, poor risk controls, and mismanagement of funds make banks unsafe for storing your hard-earned money. Banks are also 300 times more susceptible to cyber-attacks — as per a report from the Boston Consulting Group. In 2016, hackers infiltrated Bangladesh Bank and stole over $81 million in a matter of hours. With such hacks becoming common, citizens have lost trust in banks.

Millions of people have started using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for their day-to-day transactions. That’s primarily because all the Bitcoin transactions are encrypted by cryptography and stored on Blockchain — a shared and immutable ledger that records and stores all the transactions. No one can manipulate the data or temper any transactions. So far, there hasn’t been a single instance where Blockchain data was compromised. This makes Bitcoin a better alternative to fiat money.

▹Anonymity

Any payment you collect via credit card goes through several intermediaries before reaching you. From the acquiring bank to the issuing bank and payment gateway to the credit card associations (Visa and Mastercard), a lot of players are involved in a single transaction. If any company facilitating the transaction faces a data breach or gets hacked, your most critical information may end up in the wrong hands.

On the flip side, all Bitcoin transactions are completely transparent yet anonymous. While you can trace any transaction to its origin through a Blockchain explorer, it’s almost impossible to associate someone’s real-world identity with any payment. This allows you to send and receive payments anywhere on the planet anonymously.