DataLight Report: Bitcoin already ahead of Mainstream Platforms for Large Payments

Bitcoin is already the most popular payment system for high volume transactions, surpassing mainstream platforms like PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard, according to an April 1, 2019, study by DataLight. The cryptocurrency analysis platform believes that Bitcoin is on course to surpass these legacy payment platforms on all fronts within the next decade if it continues along its present growth trajectory.

Bitcoin Showing Greater Utility for High Order Payments

In a blog post published by DataLight on Monday, the company revealed that despite the year-long bear market of 2018, Bitcoin showed marked improvement in adoption and real-world utility statistics with about $3.4 trillion in BTC transactions for the year.

According to the post, DataLight compared BTC’s figures with those released by Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal on their 2018 end-of-year reports. The details of the study can be summarized in the following excerpt from the report:

“In 2018 an average Bitcoin transaction volume was 450 times higher than Visa’s average, while the total of $3.4 trillion transferred with Bitcoin in 2018 is 5,8 times higher than such of PayPal.”

While still lagging in many important network parameters, Bitcoin is the clear leader when it comes to total transaction volume. A major reason for this trend is the lower fees incurred when using BTC for high-value fund transfers.

With the staggering total of $3.4 trillion transferred with Bitcoin last year, we decided to compare Bitcoin with traditional payment systems and the results are very surprising.
Follow the link below to read the full study! https://t.co/QxAjZrzeyb

— DataLight (@DataLightMe) April 1, 2019

With the emergence of segregated witnesses (SegWit), BTC fees fell dramatically in 2018 to an average of $0.20 in 2018. Even when sending millions of dollars across the globe via BTC, the cost remains unchanged unlike is the case with mainstream payment platforms.

Since Bitcoin operates on a reasonably fixed fee model that depends on a discrete network load rather than a percentage model, it is unsurprising to see the top-ranked cryptocurrency outstripping legacy platforms in the high-value transfer arena.

Decentralization Gives Bitcoin the Edge over Visa and Mastercard

The DataLight research still pointed out essential areas where the Bitcoin protocol lags behind these legacy payment systems. For one, issues with scalability still limit Bitcoin’s ability to match the transaction processing power of Visa and Mastercard.

Presently, PayPal still outstrips Bitcoin by almost 60:1. For Visa and Mastercard, the difference is somewhere around 9,000:1 and 6,000:1 respectively.

However, DataLight maintains that the network is on track to surpass all legacy payment systems. Offering its prediction, the company said:

“If it maintains this pace, in another 10 years, it will surpass all competition.”

Already, the Bitcoin network is thought to be more efficient than wire transfers and other cross-border payment vehicles. For DataLight, Bitcoin’s decentralized nature is what gives it the edge over mainstream payment networks.