Why aren't cryptocurrencies successful as a medium of payment

[cryptoblackhat]

Overstock.com already has about $120,000 per week in purchases paid with crypto: https://www.forbes.com/sites/astanley/2018/06/13/overstock-chairman-committed-to-crypto-despite-market-woes-calls-for-u-s-regulatory-clarity/

So it can be successful, in the right environment.

[danbitcoin1]

Still too complicated for the average person to get started. No reversal if someone goes wrong either, get 1 letter wrong and your money is gone.

[shapegray]

Not too fast. Need some time again until it can became payment. Also just few people which know about crypto and people also doubt to buy in crypto because of they worry their money will loss.

[Lucilfer]

Still too complicated for the average person to get started. No reversal if someone goes wrong either, get 1 letter wrong and your money is gone.

That's one of the complications that might happen for someone who's just a begginer in terms of crypto. Aside from that it is still at a premature stages and it has still a lot of rooms to improve, i guess this may take several years before it will be done and completed, and just a simple trial and error would probably solve each department or strands.

[BADBITCH]

The global economy is nearly 80 trillion USD per year.  Payments using any type of cryptocurrency as a medium of payment is a tiny fraction of this total.

What are some of the reasons preventing cryptocurrency from being more successful as a medium of payment?

There are no total reasons, Naturally we cannot use over 1500 cryptocurrency as a medium of payment
All we need is selected few, which is why bitcoin, etherum, eos, dash and couple of 3 others are selected to bulk the trend and served as a medium of payment.
We just need to wait for more infrastructures, and everything will get even more better and there will be more acceptances too.

Lets all wait for it.
it will come.

[taiwww]

The global economy is nearly 80 trillion USD per year.  Payments using any type of cryptocurrency as a medium of payment is a tiny fraction of this total.

What are some of the reasons preventing cryptocurrency from being more successful as a medium of payment?

They need lot of furnishing before they can be used as current. The reasons are really many more as altcoins are not even able to withstand the different shocks of the bad news and thus they tend to go down below the line many more times than they can be stable! So this doesn't make sense as fiat currency always needs to be very stable and without which we can not give it a title of the currency. Also payment system are integrated with blockchain will take time to come in effect as speed and amount of transaction that can be processed today is really slower one.

[Prodigan786]

First thing I noticed effort and time taking to make payment using crypto currency I tried with some online platform finally I decided to pay with fiat currency . Where I neede service immidiately bitcoin acceptance were taking upto day . Even I have to do lots of work to make payment . Also fear of getting fished.

[jatoman]

Multiple problems right now with using any crypto for payment.

First, requires an easy way to purchase crypto. Then a better understanding
by the public of what crypto even is. And it'd require instant transactions plus
stability. Plus of course it must be scale.

Kind of the opposite of the situation now. Maybe one day a stablecoin could take
that role, but right now using crypto for purchases is like using the worst credit
card in the world... or if paypal was schizophrenic.

I agree that the user experience for purchasing cryptocurrencies is cumbersome... too cumbersome for most people to be willing to try it, well enough, use it regularly.  This is an obstacle for the public to understand it because if they would use it would help them understand how it works. 

Most people I know have heard of Bitcoin, because it is often in the news.  None of them know what cryptocurrency is. So, getting people to understand what it is, how it works, and why they trust it is huge obstacle to overcome.

And, of course, a successful cryptocurrency needs to have performance similar to other successful payment networks such as the Visa International network.  That means there is still a lot of work to design and build a cryptocurrency and its associated blockchain network capable of this performance.

I agree that a huge obstacle is price volatility.  Presently, cryptocurrency acts only as a store of value because there so little use as a medium of payment.  This means it is like a security, even though the SEC just ruled that cryptocurrencies aren't a security, where they are traded.  This leads to the price volatility.

[Swenna]

Main reasons why cryptocurrency is not a good medium of payment:

1. Lack of information/background knowledge - We have to agree that everyone is not a crypto-enthusiast. in order to begin using cryptocurrecy, you have to know what it is first, the how's and the why's. Also,most people will be reluctant to try new means of payment as they are used to using the traditional means as it is already proven and tested. Thus, information and open-mindedness is important.

2. Different laws and regulations in different countries - not all countries has the same laws and regulations with regards to cryptocurrency. It is mainly the decision of the government and with the difference in the crypto regulation in every country, it will be difficult to use this as a means of payment (if the transaction is to occur at two people in different countries or is separated by distance)

3. Volatility - with cryptocurrency, we cannot put a specific value as it changes over time and is very unpredible. Paying with whatever current price it had in USD pairing may eventually make someone 2x richer tomorrow or 2x of loss of profit.

[Ms.cumshot]

the first thing that becomes a problem is the public understanding of crypto is very little and there are still many misunderstandings about crypto. the government is also not fully supportive and the banking or other financial companies are also very opposed to crypto and they think that crypto could harm and take over their business.

Yes, the current stage of crypto is hard to be accepted by other sectors and government, they are thinking that crypto will not help their wconomy to grow, when in reality, crypto has a lot to offer to the economy of a certain country, that can help the financial and technological advancement.

[jatoman]

I would add that there isn't an easy way to change crypto into fiat.   When the time comes that I can send crypto to someone on the other side of the world, or across town, and they can receive that and easily change that to fiat, or vice versa crypto will boom.

I agree that if there is an easy and fast way to buy (on-ramp) and to sell (off-ramp) on the cryptocurrency "super highway" that helps in at least these important ways:

1) it makes it safe for sellers to accept it because they know they can easily and quickly convert it into fiat currency
2) because the amount of time between when a buyer purchasing a cryptocurrency to spend it and when the seller converts this into fiat currency can be small
3) because this time can be small (a few seconds) the exposure to price volatility is also small

I emphasize "fast" because presently there isn't a fast way to do this.  It can take over a week to buy a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin (e.g. CoinBase takes 10 days!).  It takes several days to sell cryptocurrency.

[mabell943]

I think the reason behind because of its market value always fluctuates in the market. In justa  single moment the company can iccurred a realized gain or loss without any investment if crypto used as payment.

[xaker74]

The reason is that they are not controlled by anyone, and as we know the government does not like it. From the government-controlled cryptocurrency makes no sense, and not controlled has cant received extensive distribution.

[auliahr]

I believe crypto is a payment solution in the future, you try to imagine if we want to send money abroad in just a matter of seconds or minutes the money will quickly get to the recipient with a very low cost and without complicated requirements. Crypto is a technological breakthrough that is very suitable for use in people's lives or used en masse.

[jatoman]

I believe crypto is a payment solution in the future, you try to imagine if we want to send money abroad in just a matter of seconds or minutes the money will quickly get to the recipient with a very low cost and without complicated requirements. Crypto is a technological breakthrough that is very suitable for use in people's lives or used en masse.

It can move any value of money from anywhere to anywhere in the world in moments for essentially no cost.  For those involved with global payments this seems like magic!

[Umkar]

In order for the currency to be successful as a means of payment, it is necessary to do a lot of work. First of all, it concerns the adoption of relevant laws and by-laws concerning the legalization and further regulation of the crypto currency. A corresponding infrastructure should be developed, which is not yet available. And most importantly - you need people's desire to use it as a means of payment. For the time being, we see only a very big interest in using crypto currency as a means of accumulating value in order to derive greater profit from the increase in its value.

[huntingbtc5]

This whole cryptocurrency thing is still under modified level. The proper system of medium of payment with cryptocurrency is still to be structured. As a  totally new system and technology not all people are going to understand it immediately. Also people become accustomed to use physical money for a long time. You have to give time to cryptocurrency to see it as a successful medium of payment.

[xsaints128]

One of the main reason is that the government doesn't want to recognize it as a mode of payment maybe because its decentralised and all. Another reason is that the prices fluctuates a lot. Crypto market right now is in a pretty nascent stage so I think in the near future we can expect crypto as a mode of payment.

[jatoman]

In order for the currency to be successful as a means of payment, it is necessary to do a lot of work. First of all, it concerns the adoption of relevant laws and by-laws concerning the legalization and further regulation of the crypto currency. A corresponding infrastructure should be developed, which is not yet available. And most importantly - you need people's desire to use it as a means of payment. For the time being, we see only a very big interest in using crypto currency as a means of accumulating value in order to derive greater profit from the increase in its value.

I agree that for widespread use there must be a cryptocurrency that is "regulator friendly".

For that to happen, there needs to be a cryptocurrency designed with a thorough and broad understanding of the numerous regulators involved across numerous jurisdictions.  I don't see much discussion about this.

[APICEMTECH]

Because there are big powers who do not want you me and the people to take control in our hands and so they keep making some kind of fud all the time. Also because we all people have been brainwashed to believe is all the lies the corporations have been feeding us for so long. 2017 was the year when people knew about btc, it was on media, 2027 i think it will be used in every corner of the world.