Crypto: the Currency of the Future

Through the use of services like BitPay, Coinbase Commerce, and many others, companies are now accepting cryptocurrency as payment. This emerging trend is a sign that the exponential growth of the crypto industry is far more than a contemporary anomaly. The acceptance of these established virtual currencies such as BitCoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin is a discernible representation of the crypto industry’s fast and steady rise. The decentralized nature of crypto blockchain technology makes it virtually infallible and rewards the verification of transactions, or mining as it is commonly known, with payment in the digital coinage, merely hastening its unstoppable rise.

     With credible individuals like Elon Musk now making moves to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment at Tesla, other large organizations are sure to follow. As a trusted, successful entrepreneur, Musk’s influence on public opinion is undeniable. Solely by adding #bitcoin to his Twitter Bio, Bitcoin saw a temporary 20% spike in price.

     In a similar recent development, PayPal is now allowing its users to “buy, sell, and hold select cryptocurrencies” directly through the app, taking the industry one step closer to widespread acceptance. Further indicating that plans for widespread acceptance of cryptocurrency as payment are being rolled out, Paypal has stated that although users cannot currently use crypto “as a funding instrument for commerce,“ that is planned for later this year.

     It is evident that virtual currency is steadily emerging as the future of money but as John Stein Smith asserts for Forbes, “in order for that future to play out as promised, there needs to be partnership between crypto and incumbent financial institutions,” meaning that the key to the continued expansion of crypto assets already lies within our society's very framework. With more influential people, and organizations at large, gathering in the crypto corner, there’s no telling how far the blockchain’s distributed ledgers will span.