[2014-05-24] ibtimes: Bitcoin Set to Overtake PayPal in Transaction Volumes

[LiteCoinGuy]

Bitcoin Set to Overtake eBay's PayPal in Transaction Volumes

California-based hedge fund Laureate Trust says that bitcoin is fast establishing itself as the currency to use globally and instantly to make purchases or payments over the internet recording nearly $300m (£178m, €220m) daily in transactions.

"Whenever you have an instrument that trades over 300 million US dollars a day, it must be recognized," Peter Tasca, CEO of Laureate Trust, said in a statement.

...

Laureate manages a $5bn fund with investments in trade stocks, bonds and option contracts in over 100 regulated market exchanges.

In February, the hedge fund issued a "speculative" buy rating on bitcoin after the digital currency had survived two crashes causing a 70% drop in value within a few months.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bitcoin-set-overtake-ebays-paypal-transaction-volumes-1449856

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[bryant.coleman]

The daily transaction volume for Bitcoin is close to BTC100,000, after taking in to account all the minor exchanges and peer-to-peer transfers. That is equivalent to some $50 million at today's exchange rates. (Check Blockchain.info charts for reference).

So it is wrong to say that Bitcoin is having daily volumes of $300 million. In reality, the transaction volume is around one-sixth of that amount.

[21pilot]

The daily transaction volume for Bitcoin is close to BTC100,000, after taking in to account all the minor exchanges and peer-to-peer transfers. That is equivalent to some $50 million at today's exchange rates. (Check Blockchain.info charts for reference).

So it is wrong to say that Bitcoin is having daily volumes of $300 million. In reality, the transaction volume is around one-sixth of that amount.

nevertheless an impressive amount of transactions.

[bryant.coleman]

nevertheless an impressive amount of transactions.

Yes it is... and with Bitpay / Coinbase being accepted by more and more merchants around the world, we could expect a rather logarithmic increase in the transaction volume. 

[21pilot]

another article (the numbers are also a bit off? or has the volume declined since 12/2013 ?)

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-versus-paypal-comparison-2013-12

[beetcoin]

how are the transactions counted though? if it's tracked base on wallet to wallet, then that doesn't necessarily mean a transaction. i could move 50 bitcoins to another address, and none of that would have been considered "spent." most paypal funds that move are considered spent money, as in they change hands.

[Bit_Happy]

"In the next one or two years, Bitcoin can surpass the dollar transaction volumes of other established payment companies including Discover, and even American Express, MasterCard, and Visa," said SmartMetric CEO Chaya Hendrick.

The thread title sounds great, but the real numbers are not easy to know for certain.
We do know for sure that Bitcoin usage is growing rapidly as more businesses and people dive in every day. 

[bryant.coleman]

another article (the numbers are also a bit off? or has the volume declined since 12/2013 ?)

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-versus-paypal-comparison-2013-12

I am not sure how did they reached that $289 million figure (that would mean daily transactions of BTC555,000, almost 6 times higher than what is given in Blockchain.info). But there is no doubt that the volume is increasing day-by-day.  

[ganabb]

Bitcoin trade is traditionally (I believe?) long-term investment based.

[Neg]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

[21pilot]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

for a certain kind of transactions credit cards (mastercard, visa, amex) are still superior...
for in-store transactions it still is a problem to wait up to 10 minutes for a confirmation.

But I agree with you that at least Paypal and Western Union are no real competition for bitcoin anymore 

[cr1776]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

for a certain kind of transactions credit cards (mastercard, visa, amex) are still superior...
for in-store transactions it still is a problem to wait up to 10 minutes for a confirmation.

But I agree with you that at least Paypal and Western Union are no real competition for bitcoin anymore 

For most in store transactions you do not need to wait for a confirmation.   No one is going to attempt a double-spend for a cup of coffee. 

[21pilot]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

for a certain kind of transactions credit cards (mastercard, visa, amex) are still superior...
for in-store transactions it still is a problem to wait up to 10 minutes for a confirmation.

But I agree with you that at least Paypal and Western Union are no real competition for bitcoin anymore 

For most in store transactions you do not need to wait for a confirmation.   No one is going to attempt a double-spend for a cup of coffee. 

valid argument!
But a part of in-store transactions is paying for mac books, displays...
(high value items where a double-spend could be an attractive idea)

[LiteCoinGuy]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

for a certain kind of transactions credit cards (mastercard, visa, amex) are still superior...
for in-store transactions it still is a problem to wait up to 10 minutes for a confirmation.

But I agree with you that at least Paypal and Western Union are no real competition for bitcoin anymore 

For most in store transactions you do not need to wait for a confirmation.   No one is going to attempt a double-spend for a cup of coffee. 

or a shirt for 9 USD or a pair of socks. so for most low cost stuff its okay.

on the other side:  when you accept a credit card and someone bought a jeans for 200 USD, probably you get screwed because he made a charge back 2 days later.

[Mr Crabs]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

for a certain kind of transactions credit cards (mastercard, visa, amex) are still superior...
for in-store transactions it still is a problem to wait up to 10 minutes for a confirmation.

But I agree with you that at least Paypal and Western Union are no real competition for bitcoin anymore 

For most in store transactions you do not need to wait for a confirmation.   No one is going to attempt a double-spend for a cup of coffee. 

valid argument!
But a part of in-store transactions is paying for mac books, displays...
(high value items where a double-spend could be an attractive idea)

Isn't it very hard to do a double spend?

[bryant.coleman]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

Overtaking Paypal will be easy... but overtaking the Credit Card companies will be difficult as hell. We need better security, i.e the frequent robberies and hacks need to be prevented. I'd say that if there is anything standing between Bitcoin and the no.1 position, it is the security issue.

[cr1776]

Even if the figures are slightly off I'm sure we'll surpass Paypal soon and I'm glad for it. Wonder if we'll ever get near to some of the credit card companies??

for a certain kind of transactions credit cards (mastercard, visa, amex) are still superior...
for in-store transactions it still is a problem to wait up to 10 minutes for a confirmation.

But I agree with you that at least Paypal and Western Union are no real competition for bitcoin anymore 

For most in store transactions you do not need to wait for a confirmation.   No one is going to attempt a double-spend for a cup of coffee. 

valid argument!
But a part of in-store transactions is paying for mac books, displays...
(high value items where a double-spend could be an attractive idea)

Isn't it very hard to do a double spend?

Very, very hard.

[bitsmichel]

wow bitcoin has already surpassed western union, it is quite a big name.  I think others will follow soon

[ncourtois]

Bitcoin Set to Overtake eBay's PayPal in Transaction Volumes

bitcoin recording nearly $300m daily in transactions.

NONSENSE, everybody knows it is MUCH lower, maybe 50M as claimed in this forum, and was maybe 68 M in April [Fitch rating agency press release].

Now it is easy to see that in current bitcoin it is IMPOSSIBLE to estimate accurately the transaction volume. There is just no way to know the accurate volume, not even in theory.

In Section 2.5 of our paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.0534
we explain why exactly it is so:

A particular problem are the actions of some bitcoin addresses which hold very large balances
and return change to themselves at new freshly created addresses.

[ncourtois]

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-versus-paypal-comparison-2013-12

$289 million

These data were also totally BOGUS and INCORRECT from the start!

Cf. Section 2.5 in http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.0534