Why aren't cryptocurrencies successful as a medium of payment

[CafeCoinICO]

Hey jatoman,

I think the largest reason crypto is not yet successful as a medium of payment is because it is a complicated technology and it is marketed like one. Furthermore, buying cryptocurrency and using it is much more difficult than fiat currencies. As crypto gets more exposure and better understanding, its use will increase.

Best,
CafeCoin
https://cafe-coin.com/

[bit..what?]

I believe crypto will overcome the current problems and become more user friendly in the future.
This will certainly take a while, but the importance of crypto as a means of payment will certainly increase.

[Pearls Before Swine]

The government.

I wouldn't blame the government for this.  Businesses are perfectly capable of accepting crypto if they so desired and payment processors like bitpay do exist.  What I would argue is that merchants are just not interested in doing it, or at least not most of them.

There have been some governments who have banned crypto if i'm not mistaken, but it currently is not a systemic problem.  In the US, there is a local restaurant that I know of that accepts bitcoin and the government has no problem with this.  The truth is that its a pain in the ass for the business.  They're used to cash and credit cards and those methods are fast and easy.

Also if bitcoin hasn't gained a foothold, do you really think altcoins are going to?  I would argue that a good percentage of the world population doesn't even know ETH exists and they certainly don't know that coins like WAVES or LTC exist.  Though I don't want it to be this way, the fact is that people are comfortable with banks and cash and plastic money.  Those things are ubiquitous and crypto is not.

[jatoman]

Hey jatoman,

I think the largest reason crypto is not yet successful as a medium of payment is because it is a complicated technology and it is marketed like one. Furthermore, buying cryptocurrency and using it is much more difficult than fiat currencies. As crypto gets more exposure and better understanding, its use will increase.

Best,
CafeCoin
https://cafe-coin.com/

Yes, I agree there needs to be innovation to make it easier for consumers and merchants to use and accept crypto payments.  It needs to as simple as paying with a credit/debit card.

And, your point about exposure is right on.  There needs to be promotion of how crypto payments work, why people should trust these, and most importantly, what about crypto payments is better than traditional payments such as cash or card.

[jatoman]

The government.

I wouldn't blame the government for this.  Businesses are perfectly capable of accepting crypto if they so desired and payment processors like bitpay do exist.  What I would argue is that merchants are just not interested in doing it, or at least not most of them.

There have been some governments who have banned crypto if i'm not mistaken, but it currently is not a systemic problem.  In the US, there is a local restaurant that I know of that accepts bitcoin and the government has no problem with this.  The truth is that its a pain in the ass for the business.  They're used to cash and credit cards and those methods are fast and easy.

Also if bitcoin hasn't gained a foothold, do you really think altcoins are going to?  I would argue that a good percentage of the world population doesn't even know ETH exists and they certainly don't know that coins like WAVES or LTC exist.  Though I don't want it to be this way, the fact is that people are comfortable with banks and cash and plastic money.  Those things are ubiquitous and crypto is not.

No government has forbidden consumers or merchants from using or accepting crypto payments.  So, they aren't a obstacle per se.

Now, gaining governments enthusiastic support because there is a cryptocurrency designed to make applying their regulations easier and more efficient would be quite helpful.  I see this being the opportunity.

People don't care about what cryptocurrency is behind a crypto payment.  What they care is that there is some advantage to them for using crypto payments, that it is easy to use, and that enough consumers and merchants use and accept it.

That means there must be innovation on the mobile payment applications and POS systems to make these things happen.

[yeeyeyaya]

The first thing that became a problem was that there was very little public understanding about crypto and there were still many misconceptions about crypto. At first you must know that cryptocurrency is not legalized in any country, so the main reason why cryptocurrency cannot be used as a payment method. also the price of cryptocurrency is not stable.

[AVAMONEY]

This is only a matter of time, not no, it just hasn't materialized yet. Not that easy and there are no shortcuts. You must be more patient. You can not do anything at a time. Many new ICO projects are launched every day. Not everything develops overnight.

[U2018]

Now it takes a cycle, the cryptocurrency is growing, and it will become a payment medium in a few years. This is something that will happen, you don't have to question.

[Yunbalo]

Because now electronic money is being hacked by hackers, and some users are limited in knowledge, so electronic payments are not very popular yet, some countries still accept it. Payment in electronic money as Japan, Korea

[btcformula]

Fluctuation , technical, fear of hacking etc. These are some common reason. It's need some time to make it mainstream

[yayoyo]

First, because cryptocurrency suppliers only exist in the market, this makes most coins available only on the market. Second, the price of coins is changing every second. The ever-changing price makes coins impossible to be the payment method in life!

[ityandsyn]

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 should be a legislation for every country and massive adaptation of cryptocurrencies in order to be successful as a medium of payments like fiat money, but not necessarily  to replace the existing currencies of every country.

[geegaw]

This is only a matter of time, not no, it just hasn't materialized yet. Not that easy and there are no shortcuts. You must be more patient. You can not do anything at a time. Many new ICO projects are launched every day. Not everything develops overnight.

Agreed that it can still be successful but the chances are very low when people are still not positive about it, they still believe in popular payment instruments such as cash and credit cards, these tools are guaranteed by law and government. It's safer while cryptocurrency does not seem to guarantee user safety, when we lose money, no one is responsible or protective of us, and of course, from that, the popularity of crypcurrency is very low, more time can not change too many things, it is not created for the main purpose as payment

[Rustamm]

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?

Crypto currency is a completely new kind of digital money. Do not expect that in a few years all people will switch to using crypto currency. This process will be very lengthy and will take many decades. Individuals and now make payments in the crypto currency, but so far this is not often the case. Everything has its time.

[Veter2000]

The government.

I wouldn't blame the government for this.  Businesses are perfectly capable of accepting crypto if they so desired and payment processors like bitpay do exist.  What I would argue is that merchants are just not interested in doing it, or at least not most of them.

There have been some governments who have banned crypto if i'm not mistaken, but it currently is not a systemic problem.  In the US, there is a local restaurant that I know of that accepts bitcoin and the government has no problem with this.  The truth is that its a pain in the ass for the business.  They're used to cash and credit cards and those methods are fast and easy.

Also if bitcoin hasn't gained a foothold, do you really think altcoins are going to?  I would argue that a good percentage of the world population doesn't even know ETH exists and they certainly don't know that coins like WAVES or LTC exist.  Though I don't want it to be this way, the fact is that people are comfortable with banks and cash and plastic money.  Those things are ubiquitous and crypto is not.

No government has forbidden consumers or merchants from using or accepting crypto payments.  So, they aren't a obstacle per se.

Now, gaining governments enthusiastic support because there is a cryptocurrency designed to make applying their regulations easier and more efficient would be quite helpful.  I see this being the opportunity.

People don't care about what cryptocurrency is behind a crypto payment.  What they care is that there is some advantage to them for using crypto payments, that it is easy to use, and that enough consumers and merchants use and accept it.

That means there must be innovation on the mobile payment applications and POS systems to make these things happen.

This is not entirely true, in some countries cryptocurrencies are banned by the Central Banks as payment means. In addition to legislative restrictions, the introduction of cryptocurrency as a means of payment is hampered by too much volatility, insufficient scalability of the network is not comparable at the moment with Visa and MasterCard and the absence of free instant conversion of crypto currency with fiat.

[Genjik]

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?

from my observations in the area where I live, because not all people know about crypto, many people here still use real money as legitimate payments and their views about crypto are bad enough, in my opinion

[doedz]

In my opinion, the infrastructure for cryptocurrency is not extensive, so it hasn't been evenly distributed.
Of all that can be concluded, not all regions will receive cryptocurrency.

To become a payment medium, all regions must accept it.

[miropp]

Cryptocurrency has just started to be introduced into our lives, some States have already adopted it. But this is only the beginning. Also, the problem is that few people know about cryptocurrency. To make it freely used as a means of payment, it is necessary that everyone knew about it and knew how to use it. All this will take time.

[R9s]

This is a long time of popularity, how does it change humans in a short time? You need to be patient. The future world can of course be paid in cryptocurrency.

[AlphaGoo]

The huge volatility of prices makes people afraid to accept crypto as a means of payment. Storage encryption requires downloading wallets, and using wallets requires some skills, which makes people reluctant to use crypto. When one day uses crypto, the value of crypto becomes simple. When it is relatively stable, crypto will be popular in any corner of the world.