Bitcoin Becomes An Everyday Currency

It appears that bitcoin is making its way into mainstream use despite many setbacks over the past several years. Payments processor BitPay told

that its latest research showed that more and more customers are looking to bitcoin as a usable currency rather than merely an investment, something that suggests the cryptocurrency is becoming a more established part of the global economy.

As more and more big name retailers sign on to offer bitcoin as a payment option, consumers are becoming more comfortable with exchanging the currency for goods and services, the report showed. At the beginning of this year, 100,000 merchants across the globe were accepting bitcoin, 53 percent of which used BitPay. According to BitPay's data, its merchants accepted $150 million worth of bitcoin in 2014. A Global Currency While bitcoin has been used on every continent, the majority of the cryptocurrency's users were Americans. The data showed that nearly 90 percent of bitcoin's customers are in the US, but the currency's popularity is spreading among merchants in several other regions. Emerging markets saw a high volume of merchants sign up to accept the currency even as transaction volumes remained low. Brazil had the greatest merchant sign up growth in 2014 with a 406 percent rise.

The BitPay figures reflect a growing interest in bitcoin despite increasingly negative publicity related to illegal activity and scams. While consumers still appear to be wary of the risks associated with bitcoin, the figures prove that digital currencies are quickly becoming an acceptable way to pay.