According to statistics from BitPay, Bitcoin (BTC) is still a popular form of payment, despite the bear market in cryptocurrencies’ value.
Despite the ongoing cryptocurrency winter, Bitcoin continues to be the most often used cryptocurrency for payments on the platform, even though its percentage of total BitPay transactions has been declining.
According to BitPay’s vice president of marketing, Merrick Theobald, sales volumes of Bitcoin-based payments on the platform reached 87% last year and fell to 52% in the first quarter of 2022 amid the bear market. Bitcoin sales volumes on BitPay are related to the overall value of cryptocurrency payments handled in bitcoin, as opposed to the number of transactions.
Merrick Theobald said that BitPay saw a decrease in sales volume mostly among non-stablecoin purchases because stablecoin sales persisted despite variations in the value of other cryptocurrencies.
Merrick Theobald emphasised that despite the market downturn, overall BitPay transactions remained constant, with monthly transactions increasing from roughly 58,000 in 2021 to 67,000 in 2022.
The number of Bitcoin payment transactions has also been sharply declining this year, in accordance with sales levels. According to BitPay data, the percentage of Bitcoin transactions fell from 57% in March to 48% in July.
On the other side, as LTC transactions increased from 14% in March to 22% in July, BitPay users have been paying more and more using other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin (LTC).
Merrick Theobald said, “People still use BTC on BitPay more than other cryptocurrencies because it is the oldest and most well-known crypto, it has the largest market cap, and it has proven over the years to be a great digital payment tool.”