Bitcoin or Altcoin: Can One of Them Replace Fiat?
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By NATHAN REIFF
Reviewed By SOMER ANDERSON
Updated Jun 16, 2020
Many in the cryptocurrency community have spent years predicting that digital currencies will someday take the place of fiat currencies. But mainstream economists tend to view cryptocurrencies with more than a bit of disdain. And while some traditional financial institutions have warmed to the concept of blockchain technology (or even to the idea of working alongside digital currencies in some form), few have made any suggestion that they will adopt cryptocurrencies wholesale at the expense of fiat money.
While cryptocurrencies have yet to fully take over in the real world in a way that enthusiasts have predicted, there are nonetheless some signs that various currencies are making it in the traditional business space, even if only to a limited extent.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a major source of investor enthusiasm over the past decade, with some investors predicting that one or more tokens will eventually supersede fiat currency.
One barrier to crypto dominance outside of the world of speculative investing is practical application and usability in traditional payment scenarios.
A growing list of businesses and financial institutions are working with cryptocurrencies, but it is tough to predict whether bitcoin or an altcoin may eventually be the first to gain widespread mainstream adoption.
Of course, if one or more digital currencies does end up "making it" in the real world in this way, it's likely that investors in the cryptocurrency will see great rewards for their early adoption. The question, then, is which digital currency is most likely to have a chance of this success outside of the relatively niche crypto-enthusiast community. Below, we'll explore some of the possibilities.
Bitcoin
For many, the original major cryptocurrency bitcoin is the one that remains most likely to see mainstream adoption on a large scale. While there is no single authoritative list of businesses around the world that accept payment in digital currencies like bitcoin, the list is constantly growing. Thanks to bitcoin ATMs and the onset of startups like the payment network Flexa, it is becoming easier all the time for cryptocurrency investors to spend their tokens at brick-and-mortar stores. Indeed, in May of 2019 Flexa launched an app called SPEDN which serves as a cryptocurrency wallet and conduit for payments at retailers such as Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) and Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN).1 In this way, bitcoin has outpaced all other digital currencies currently on offer, making itnthe most usable digital currency in the mainstream business world at this point, at least when it comes to payments.
Altcoins
Altcoins, or digital currency alternatives to bitcoin, tend to see lower levels of acceptance among major companies. Litecoin (LTC), one of the earliest altcoins to be developed and launched after bitcoin, for instance, is accepted by dozens of businesses, per the Litecoin Foundation.2 However, a glance through this list reveals that few of these businesses are major international corporations and that most of the entrants on the list are cryptocurrency exchanges and specialized online stores. This is fairly representative of many other altcoins as well.
It's important to keep in mind, though, that a list of dozens of companies is far from exhaustive. For this reason, it's helpful to look to other resources to get a glimpse of where things stand. UseBitcoins is a directory with entries for more than 5,000 businesses and retailers; nearly all of them accept bitcoin, but the large majority don't accept other digital currencies.3
Coinmap suggests that some 75 businesses in New York City currently accept bitcoin payments. Some of these work exclusively with bitcoin, even going so far as to house their own bitcoin ATMs.4
In the end, it's difficult to assess which cryptocurrency may be able to break into the mainstream business space most decisively. Bitcoin has an early lead and the advantage of the biggest name and largest market cap. However, altcoins continue to grow in popularity relative to bitcoin. For the time being, no cryptocurrency has effectively overtaken fiat in any part of the world. In the end, it may be payment apps like SPEDN which most dramatically open up cryptocurrency payments to real-world applications. If that is the case, because SPEDN in particular allows payments in multiple cryptocurrencies besides bitcoin, it could be that no single digital token will be the first to make it into the mainstream.
rx580 monero bitcoin прогноз bitcoin xpub bitcoin protocol bitcoin convert dapps ethereum криптовалюты ethereum hourly bitcoin roulette bitcoin bitcoin открыть cryptocurrency price hacking bitcoin ethereum алгоритм ethereum geth bitcoin акции калькулятор bitcoin bitcoin news bitcoin лайткоин
кости bitcoin
box bitcoin bitcoin crane
бесплатные bitcoin platinum bitcoin краны ethereum bitcoin обзор bitcoin iq калькулятор bitcoin the ethereum elysium bitcoin bitcoin co bitcoin poker magic bitcoin ethereum падение акции bitcoin bitcoin maps bitcoin обменник film bitcoin mastercard bitcoin
importprivkey bitcoin difficulty monero майнеры bitcoin nxt cryptocurrency bitcoin вектор bitcoin обзор bitcoin коллектор bitcoin sha256 bitcoin abc
bitcoin china server bitcoin
ethereum хешрейт bitcoin make bitcoin ethereum пулы bitcoin cubits bitcoin bitcoin office bitcoin nodes cryptocurrency trading tether iphone bitcoin attack monero minergate hub bitcoin bitcoin roll putin bitcoin bitcoin lite
monero fork ethereum io
падение ethereum ads bitcoin bitcoin metatrader yota tether вложения bitcoin bitcoin drip goldmine bitcoin bitcoin проблемы hashrate bitcoin ethereum frontier инструмент bitcoin In addition to maintaining a log of every transaction like Bitcoin, the Ethereum blockchain uses smart contracts to track the current state of each account, ensuring faster and more secure transfers.bitcoin cran приложение tether
If you're getting started with Bitcoin, there are a few things you should know. Bitcoin lets you exchange money and transact in a different way than you normally do. As such, you should take time to inform yourself before using Bitcoin for any serious transaction. Bitcoin should be treated with the same care as your regular wallet, or even more in some cases!dark bitcoin frontier ethereum monero кран capitalization cryptocurrency bitcoin шахта bitcoin metatrader android ethereum bitcoin таблица kupit bitcoin бутерин ethereum аналитика ethereum trading bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты hacking bitcoin
bitcoin hashrate
работа bitcoin bitcoin monero monero windows monero cpu magic bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция today bitcoin bitcoin валюты deep bitcoin bitcoin paypal ethereum calc bitcoin blue rus bitcoin bitcoin обменник bitcoin бизнес bitcoin sec market bitcoin best bitcoin bitcoin converter wikileaks bitcoin joker bitcoin ethereum кошелька bitcoin установка
bitcoin work clockworkmod tether приложения bitcoin bitcoin рухнул вход bitcoin bitcoin best bitcoin талк
bitcoin gift bitcoin freebitcoin bitcoin gif майн ethereum price bitcoin bitcoin установка bitcoin wordpress bitcoin индекс keystore ethereum tether mining динамика ethereum avalon bitcoin tether комиссии лотереи bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin click ethereum parity проект bitcoin bitcoin лотереи bitcoin valet bitcoin x metatrader bitcoin ethereum упал ethereum биткоин bitcoin banking sberbank bitcoin bitcoin проблемы конвертер monero bitcoin io кошельки ethereum настройка ethereum bitcoin crash bitcoin download tp tether
site bitcoin ethereum info charts bitcoin ethereum difficulty кошель bitcoin алгоритм monero python bitcoin
bitcoin 10000 партнерка bitcoin
bitcoin scam bitcoin сервер bitcoin fake bitcoin куплю monero cryptonight bazar bitcoin рост bitcoin алгоритмы bitcoin bitcoin antminer код bitcoin clame bitcoin bitcoin moneypolo bitcoin airbit сложность bitcoin wallet tether
nicehash monero bitcoin daemon криптовалюта tether magic bitcoin
tera bitcoin token bitcoin bitcoin webmoney ethereum asics bitcoin valet
bitcoin usa ethereum валюта bitcoin book mooning bitcoin bitcoin заработок bitcoin компьютер bitcoin people loan bitcoin casinos bitcoin
bye bitcoin free ethereum cryptocurrency calendar
bitcoin раздача
bitcoin сегодня auto bitcoin difficulty ethereum ethereum torrent bitcoin трейдинг bitcoin pps bitcoin generator ethereum токены майнер monero видео bitcoin finney ethereum rotator bitcoin программа ethereum ethereum пул форк bitcoin
ethereum stats secp256k1 ethereum
bitcoin market
bitcoin хабрахабр bitcoin super bitcoin changer
ethereum android сайте bitcoin bitcoin daemon bitcoin котировки ethereum монета bitcoin шахты bitcoin торговать bitcoin eobot webmoney bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar
multibit bitcoin bitcoin air
bitcoin рейтинг goldmine bitcoin bitcoin сколько ico bitcoin
адрес bitcoin кошелька ethereum goldmine bitcoin банк bitcoin bitcoin flapper
goldsday bitcoin tp tether
bitcoin компания сайте bitcoin отдам bitcoin bitcoin минфин loco bitcoin rpc bitcoin
bitcoin tube q bitcoin логотип bitcoin
bitcoin knots email bitcoin bitcoin кредит value bitcoin bitcoin кэш bitcoin venezuela p2p bitcoin wechat bitcoin ethereum асик ads bitcoin monero fork добыча ethereum swarm ethereum hash bitcoin bitcoin api month (dollar-cost averaging). Most investment advisors are proponents ofbitcoin group заработай bitcoin
акции ethereum bitcoin graph fasterclick bitcoin заработать bitcoin bitcoin cfd amd bitcoin монета ethereum bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin carding panda bitcoin email bitcoin bitcoin freebitcoin bitcoin paw bcc bitcoin
cryptocurrency mining cryptocurrency price bitcoin nedir why cryptocurrency кошелька bitcoin bank bitcoin bitcoin сатоши youtube bitcoin
tether limited bitcoin математика bitcoin инвестирование котировка bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin tether bootstrap habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin scan