Bitcoin Forum

I have noticed that a lot of countries allowed eCommerce sites to continue doing business during the "Lockdown" periods. People are now forced to buy things online and then to have it delivered, where they previously walked around in Malls and shops.

So, with the increase in eCommerce, one would think that it would go hand in hand with a increase in online payment methods..right? Seeing that Bitcoin is one of the most secure online payment methods, one would also think that there would be a increase in the adoption of Bitcoin use...right?

What is your thoughts on the possibility that Bitcoin adoption might increase, because there are more focus being placed on eCommerce? Do your government also encourage eCommerce during the "Lockdown" and are you seeing a increase in the merchant adoption of Bitcoin payment options?

Let's share our experience and your thoughts on how Bitcoin adoption could increase adoption during these difficult times.  ;)

The lockdowns are slowly removed in all countries worldwide.The question "Will the lockdowns boost cryptocurrency adoption?" seems irrelevant to me now. There was a small increase in the eCommerce business,but that doesn't prove anything in regards of Bitcoin mass adoption.The Amazon and Netflix stocks went up,so more people started using online retailers like Amazon and services like Netflix.
I don't see any increase of cryptocurrency retail payments,or cryptocurrencies being adopted by online
merchants.Bitcoin is relatively stable so far,and I expect a bloodbath to happen in the altcoin markets soon.

People with nothing to do on their free time at home with internet have ventured many things to contain themselves and bitcoin and crypto were a hot topic. I believe many new people made their first wallet during this lockdown be it out of curiosity or investing or for trading as crypto market is the one that is never closed.

People have shifted from physical or traditional payment to online or digital way because of this pandemic . However, from where I'm from, there are still lots of people who don't know about bitcoin or other forms of cryptocurrency.

Yes, there are online payment platforms that are known in our country but it still uses our country's currency and not the digital ones.

So from what I am seeing, it has the capability of increasing bitcoin adoption but not drastically. I mean, people will surely know one thing or two about crypto out of boredom and try it but we don't know for how long.

Maybe we'll see what would happen regarding the adoption soon enough. Let's just hope for the best.

The using of online payment will allow bitcoin to be used as the payment methods, but it is not easy to introduce bitcoin to people who already use the old ways. But there will be a chance for the adoption of bitcoin use will be increased, especially if many more merchant who allow people for using the bitcoin as the payment.

We still need to have approval from the government and encourage eCommerce to use bitcoin during the lockdown in many countries. Besides that, people need to learn about bitcoin before they used bitcoin, and it will require time for them to understand how bitcoin work as payment methods.

I was recently buying a collar for my rescue dog , got to know that the site is accepting Bitcoins PLUS , no extra charges !
This is a really big deal where I live , actually we aren't able to have so many chances of paying in Bitcoins and therefore this exception was actually amazing step in getting the Bitcoins adopted on a much larger scale.
The thing is , now people are looking for more options since the quarantine have literally closed everything and even a trip to the bank is dangerous living in areas where the Corona virus is in every street .
In certain situations , scientists have even recovered the virus from the air particles . At a time like this I do think Bitcoins can help a lot in the transfers one way or the other .

Online payments or the online transactions would be more used in a different countries as of now because we are still now under quarantine that is why we should not go outside, but we still need something to do in our life even though we're in quarantine. So having online transactions would be better now for us to continue some of our stuff.

This should happen so that our needs and wants can still be processed. That is why technology is really used all over the world, technology keeps evolving so we should do something to be in from it.

That's very feasible to happen. One way or another, there are individuals who inquire how to use crypto esp btc.
And with the lockdown, many people are stuck in their homes and so they have a lot of time to study about alternative payment methods and that includes btc or crypto.
Also, the hype surrounding before the btc halving, for sure, there were also people that got interested in looking up for btc.


That's the challenge here. Many people who are new in crypto don't know where to start.
Lucky if they have friends or colleagues who are already into crypto, whom they can discuss with, but for those who don't, it would be hard for them to grasp how to deal with crypto.
It will take time for them to place their first btc order or btc payment.
But if a specific merchant will make it easy, like they have internal conversion from fiat to crypto, that would be very helpful for them.

The global eCommerce market is already huge with a global sales around $3.5 trillion and they have multiple payment options and people are actually comfortable with the current situation and hence the huge volume and accepting BTCitcoin is the discretion of the major players and i was expecting them to include as an alternative safe payment and if i remember correctly Newegg was the first major eCommerce site that accepted BTCitcoin bak in 2014 and i was expecting other major brands to follow but sadly that did not happen.

I can only get essential products online as i am stuck in a red zone and since everyone is forced to purchase online the amount of consumers are really high and amazon and other major platforms are not able to fulfill everything on time, they set up slot system to deliver in every area which will take time to get it delivered.

Basically i am against the idea of only essentials can be purchased during lock down even online is bogus, but the explanation from the government is to have a fair level playing field for other shops that are forced to shut down.

This pandemic virus is still existing in different counties that is why we should do something to still continue some of the things we are usually doings or things we should really need to do. Online transactions would be a great idea for this things, we can still proceed some of our manual transaction through the use of the internet if they are going to create a program or website that will correspond from the manual process transaction of things than it would be now easy for us to do it.
It it possible because lost of the people think some ways to make money even though they are at home and bitcoin and online jobs would be great and suitable for this current situation.

It would be a great idea of most of the transactions that we are doing in the manual system would be into the online system or having online transaction, even though we are at home we should not be passive, we should still continue doing some of the important things we should do so having this kind of online transaction would be really great.

I think online transactions would be more prominent all over the world because they know that in order for us to prevent the risk of spreading the virus we should stay at home while doing some important things.
Great said buddy, there are times that no matter what happens we should still continue to do it, and it would be an advantage for us if those things would be placed in the online world.

An increase of people using online payments and eCommerce doesn't necessarily mean an increase in the adoption of Bitcoin. There's an issue of knowing what Bitcoin is, an issue of retailers of eCommerce accepting payments through Bitcoin, and an issue of Bitcoin being too volatile for the people to use most of the time. Right now, whether most of us like it or not, Bitcoin is mostly used for investment. Buying shorts and longs is basically the way most people use it, or at least, those that are new to it and are looking at BTC as a form of investment.

Learning about Bitcoin isn't really an issue since it's literally out there on the internet, but adopting its usage can be pretty much determined if and only if the countries we stay in actually accept it. Or at least, the eCommerce sites that is.

Unfortunately, there are still governments out there that are slightly resistant to the idea of blockchain and cryptocurrency making its adoption in e-commerce a little slow.

Even during this time, wireless fiat payments via the usual payment service provider VISA, MASTERCARD, WIRECARD is still the predominant methodology for transactions.

Blockchain might still be seem as a renegade method of payment and wouldn't experience widespread adoption.

In my country they use online payment to receive money from calamity loan  they use bank to bank transfer and other online payment like paymaya(not related to crypto) .but many people still prepared to use remittances to receive their money.

The problem i see is  only few people know about bitcoin that's why its hard for the government to adopt this as alternative option for online payment .

Bitcoin is not yet adopted in e-commerce, still using the old and traditional way here, credit/debit card and other third party payment system so I don't think that bitcoin as payment scheme will thrive in this pandemic. So I have my doubts, the only way for bitcoin to get adoption is thru people hedging their wealth or buying bitcoin to trade. And we are going back to the argument that bitcoin can't be used as online payment because of the price and the speed of the transaction.

I might agree that there is an increase in online transactions since most of the buyers can't go outside of their house because of the pandemic but Bitcoin adoption to increase because of this? I don't think so base on what I'm seeing right now.

In our country, online transactions are increased by so much but what they are doing is that they will deliver the item to the buyer and the buyer will pay fiat to the delivery boy. The only online here is the ordering of the item. Maybe there are some who are paying online too but they are still using Fiat and not Bitcoin since most of the establishments aren't accepting Bitcoin right now.

Maybe in some countries, there are some establishments who are accepting Bitcoin and that is good but most of the people right now is still more comfortable in paying using fiat.

I supposed to think that due to lockdown and enhancement community quarantine will help to push people into crypto adoption but, unlikely it was going to see but still adoption isn't that massive. The situation we have isn't giving the only option for crypto alone but to know that some banks are offering credit and debit cards, they'll make a way to consider it more than for Bitcoin.

Many countries like mine have enforced lockdowns in a very strict manner. Only essential stuff like groceries, medical supplies etc can be ordered online through e-commerce sites and offline through different vendors.

It isn't even possible to order food from different restaurants. This is why e-commerce sites are essentially struggling like crazy at the moment.

Improvement in BTC adoption is out of the question due to these issues. Adoption rates are about the same and I don't think they will increase anytime soon.

Here in my place, everything can be bought through online with  of course door to door delivery, with different payment method, while some ecommerce accept bitcoin, but I never seen food restaurant/deliveries accept bitcoin yet.

And I don't see bitcoin being adopted because of this pandemic especially if the common customer has been used to buy with smaller fee or even zero fee. While bitcoin needs higher fee or it will take time before got a confirmation. But if lightning is implemented in every ecommerce platform, then I'm sure (I hope so) we will see mass adoption.

I also observed that people nowadays are most likely to pay through online than to pay though the use of traditional payment system because of the pandemic that is going on. In my country, the government is also promoting digital or the cashless society because the WHO warns that the virus can also spread through cash. There are now a lot of online payment system but the problem is they still using online local currency than bitcoin. Yes there is now a online payment system but it seems that only few people who are interested to use bitcoin to buy the things that they need.

Quite the opposite will happen now.
Bitcoin adoption will now get declined as people will invest in Bitcoin to secure there savings. The world's economy has already started showing trouble. Banks have already reduced the saving rates and stock markets are going down. The only stable and still growing commodity is Bitcoin.

For e-commerce why will anyone use Bitcoin they will use there own local currency to purchase things online. Most countries already have digital local currencies. Furthermore most e-commerce website do not accept Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies.

Yes, this is correct that in lockdown situation eCommerce has been increased to our county and maximum payment now doing with cards or mobile banking system But problem is our country still not accepting BTC. I think maximum countries still not encourage BTC for online payment but i think it should be as low payment fee and secure transaction. I don't know when govt will accept it but if govt accept BTC i think it would be revolution in online payment industry.

thanks.

From the point of view of regular people, Bitcoin is less secure. First, you have volatility - you can buy $200 equivalent of BTC for you shopping needs for a month, and a few hours later it's already worth only $180. Yes, it can also be worth $220, but to most people a threat of loss far outweights potential gains.

Then, the actual security - your coins are gone after you sent them, so it brings back then risk of getting scammed. Users love having an option to chargeback, it makes them feel safe. Almost no one worrier that centralized middlemen will interfere with their transactions, which is the problem that Bitcoin was created to solve.

So, why would people go through troubles of buying Bitcoin, learning about wallets and security, looking for online places that use Bitcoin, doing all of this if they don't see any benefits to it? And they are also satisfied enough with their existing fiat payment methods.

Lightning network has its own share of issues currently which are being ironed out on a regular basis. LN is only effective if you are working with regular customers and sending small amounts.

Sending big amounts or working with irregular customers makes LN less effective based on what I have observed.

This is why LN won't be able to improve BTC adoption in a big way currently. People will stick to FIAT and other digital payment methods since crypto is way too complicated for the majority as of now.

You make a valid point... Why would people move to Crypto currencies? The answer is simple, if you have been a victim of Credit card fraud or if you want to be one of the people who want to ditch the old Fiat currencies that are also being devaluated at a very fast pace.

Some people deal with the volatility by using Payment processors and the difference in price from when you bought it is just one of the things that can either be good or bad for you. In the long run, most people's investment in bitcoins are a Win/Win for them over the long run. I still have bitcoins that I bought when the price was $300.  ;)

There's just as much if not more fraud in crypto sphere. And in crypto all the responsibility is shifted to users, with no one to help them if something goes wrong.

And as for inflation, regular people don't sit on piles of cash so they don't worry about it, they put their money in retirement funds, and the rest of the income is spent long before inflation would eat it. People think short term, and there's nothing wrong with it, especially with how much people live from salary to salary - to them Bitcoin's volatility is a far bigger concern than their fiat losing 0.1% of its value in a month.


Payment processors protect merchants from volatility, not customers. And hodling/long term investing is an entirely different thing than online payments and eCommerce.

You are correct, right now mostly governments allowed to those shops which are selling necessary foods, e-commerces delivering their orders a large number of scale, people’s using online payment gateway to bid which their needs. Paper money is risky because it's transferred hand to hand, most possibility to spread the virus. In my country restaurants was shutdown over 2 months, now started to open a few restaurants which can able to maintain WHO's health guidelines.                  

Don't expect bitcoin to top in online payment transaction, though we are heading to mass adoption I'm still sure people won't spend bitcoin just like a ordinary currency, never would I imagine. Basically, what people are doing right now is holding a bunch of bitcoin that makes the price resistance at some point. Even with big companies like microsoft or  amazon, if they are accepting bitcoin payments I'm still sure that there is no one that is going to buy products or services using bitcoin. This is what the other companies aren't scared of, adopting bitcoin coz it has a low risk than the bitcoin itself.

The question is, what payment methods are being accepted by the e-commerce sites? I don't see much of these sites accepting cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin) as a payment method, they are usually demanding that buyers make payments with their debit cards and payment methods like PayPal. PayPal and MasterCard/Visa even seems to be more recognized and used by these sites more than any other type of payment method.

The only big site that is accepting Bitcoin as payment is Overstock, but their site is not as big as Amazon or eBay, these two are the ones I'm expecting to be accepting cryptocurrency as their payment method and not even all these smaller sites.

People have changed their shopping habit because of the pandemic and lockdowns as well as their own concerns on health risks and benefits. The longer the pandemic lasts, the more solid new shopping habit will be set in the society. From that, I don't think people will re-practice their last shopping habit.
E-payments, e-wallets have increased and will keep increasing. The pandemic and consequent changes are supplementary vitamins for those branches of e-industry. Taking advantage of those things, Bitcoin in particular and crypto in general will have wider adoption.

Much more, I also see companies have changed their operational pattern too and I believe they will not change bawlckwards to pre-pandemic pattern. There is no need to pay expensive lending cost for some specific branches, ie. IT companies. Or at least company owners will try to minimize office lending cost as lowest as possible.

That is an opportunity for bitcoin is being used by most people on this world. When there are a lot of eCommerce come and offer a lot of stuff and bitcoin is suitable to be use as payment methode but we have a problem with bitcoin fees for every transaction. I read a few days ago in some article which stated that bitcoin fees for every transaction is high due to halving event. Some of article has stated that to pay one transaction you must pay $3-$5 which I think that is very high. And if this thing keep continue we will not see bitcoin is being used as payment system anymore, the people will leave it and find another altcoin which has a low fee for every transaction.

I too think that bitcoin is not adopted because of this lockdown. People continue to use debit /credit cards for the payments. I also did not hear any announcement from any big store that they have started using bitcoin as a payment method. However people still use bitcoin for investment purpose only.

I've been buying stuff online more often because of the lockdown, but I haven't seen any company I was interested in adding a Bitcoin payment option nowadays, to be honest. The payments are done largely online, but via Visa/Mastercard transfers or various banking transfer options in my country. Since this system seems to be working well, the companies have to motivation to adopt new payment methods... And overloading digital fiat payment systems seems impossible for now. Even the fees are very low, lower than I would've paid if I used Bitcoin. It's sad, but true.

Actually, at this moment, while many people cannot go anywhere and they stay at home, and they have an internet connection, that people can start to find out about crypto. I am sure that they will find someone or more people from their city who knows about crypto or bitcoin so they can ask them and teach them.

In this digital era, we will feel difficult to find any information we want, as long as we can browse to search for what we needed. With the internet connection in almost every place, and we can subscribe to a local ISP, I think that will not take too long for those people to know the basic lesson of how to use bitcoin or purchase bitcoin. That will be good if they can get a good exchange so that it can help them to buy their first bitcoin.

I am yet to witness any such improvement here in India. As a part of the COVID relief package, the finance minister has said that incentives would be given for making digital payments more popular. But here, "digital payments" mean fiat payments using digital mode such as PayTM and PayPal and not cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is still not 100% legal here.

Why would that be? When you were first introduced to Credit cards, did you stop using it for some weird reason? The Bitcoin technology is much like the evolution of the photo technology, where we first had film and then digital photography was introduced. Once people saw how much better digital photography was, they did not want to go back to the old film technology.  ;)

We are hoping the shift from Fiat currencies to Crypto currencies will be the same as the shift from film to digital photography.  ??? The Covid virus crisis might be the catalyst we need for that shift to happen.  ;D

I personally think that the lockdown or COVID-19 is pushing mass adaptation of bitcoin and online payments. We are not really sure if it is going to be bitcoin but what is sure is we are going to take it to another level surely a lot of countries will get rid of the paper money or the fiat money since it might cause of the virus to spread. Even if the lockdown was down the adaptation is not going to stop or go back to something that is not more reliable, for sure in the future in are ending in advanced technology even in digital money the thing is we are just not sure if it is bitcoin or maybe something more advanced than bitcoin will be created.

It's not going to happen in the near future, with or without the lockdown, for the following reasons:

• The uncertainty of this situation and the halving will be an incentive to hold bitcoin and spend fiat
• The main advantage of Bitcoin over your normal bank transfer is that you can move large amounts cheap and fast. During lockdown people are interested in buying food and clothes, not cars, boats and houses.

When most governments of the world lockdown everyone, the only available option was ecommerce for countries where it has been developed and grown high.
Ecommerce will still keep growing provided the business owners deliver what their customers ordered.
On the adoption of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange, we will see it happen with countries that haven't adopted bitcoin yet because a lot of people have gotten interest in cryptocurrency of recent, so we envisage The Bitcoin revolution soon.

Lockedown = Not necessarily mean that it would increase the eCommerce business. I have an small eCommerce business here in my local and it has been slowed down. Moreover, if there's not enough merchant to accept BTC, how would it be increased?

Well, because of this pandemic a lot of people got interested in cashless transactions like eCommerce such as amazon, sears, and kohl's as well as online payment for utilities because people are aware and keen on their health. And most of the people are already aware of cashless transaction but that will not become a gateway Bitcoin or other crypto to be adopted globally for the cashless transactions such as credit or debit cards can perform the function of fiat money and Bitcoins. Understanding the value of Bitcoin or crypto digital currency perhaps new to most people because during the time of pandemic it is still a debit, and credit cards are mostly used for transactions and not the Bitcoin. Adopting Bitcoin perhaps for now because digitized currencies are still next in the future to replace physical fiat money, --but perhaps in the mere future once Bitcoin will be able to prove its advantages then they can replace the digital currencies.

That is very individual and depends on the country and community you live in. In my country eCommerce has increased and more people started to use online services. However, not many local merchants used that opportunity and they didn't open online shops although their physical stores were open.
Although to my opinion eCommerce did generaly increased that didn't increase Bitcoin addoption, still very small number of people is.using Bitcoin or it's ready to start to use cryptocurrencies in general.

This pandemic led to a revolution in trade and payments. When cash payments are considered too risky because they can be a means of spreading viruses and bacteria, non-cash or digital payments are the best solutions. At the moment, bitcoin adoption is still very small, and there are still many pros and cons in the system, not many countries allow this. This evolution process takes a long time so that later Bitcoin will get its role as an alternative payment, but for now, it's not optimal, the world is adapting to e-money payments.

Of course this really depends on the circumstances and policies in each region and also the type of merchandise offered. If the merchandise is like a medical health device, basic needs, and other materials needed to deal with this difficulty will surely increase. Hopefully, your business can adapt well. If we think logically when physical distancing is implemented, malls and shops are limited by opening hours, then the best option is to make transactions online.

Any Gov would not bother much if the society is tending to dependent on e-commerce as that would not disrupt the banking system in the country. But they will put several types of regulation on the cryptocurrencies as it disrupts the Governor's grip on the economy.
Second thing is the price volatility of the crypto coins. Due to so much fluctuation of prices e-commerece will not be willing to take that much of risk. (They can go for a stable crypto-currency though).
These are the main causes, why we still have very less adoption of cryptocoins on the eCommerce. SO increment of e-commerce business will rarely have an effect crypto-coins.

Unfortunately I do not feel the presence of bitcoin related to this case, so far there have been many sellers of any item via online and payments that can be done digitally have indeed become more popular in the current era and by applying lockdown, of course more and more traders will switch to trading by way of digital like this. But still, the lack of real use of bitcoin makes adoption like this difficult to grow faster and also the legality about the use of bitcoin itself is still not widespread, because even most users only consider bitcoin as an asset not a currency.