More and more opportunities for Bitcoin as mobile payments grow everyday
The growing amount of mobile payment transactions is expected to reach $721 billion globally until 2017. This means, obviously, a great opportunity for Bitcoin. And if we’re looking at this year’s value alone, the mobile payment transactions will probably translate in $235.4 billion, which means there were a 44 percent jump from the 2012 value ($163.1 billion), as stated by the most recent reports from Gartner.
The main percentage of transactions, more specifically 71 percent, is composed by the more usual money transfers. Merchandise purchases stay at 21 percent. However, numbers are supposed to change, since bill payments are expected to grow by 44 percent this year and they should constitute 5 percent of the total in 2017. Unfortunately, Near field communication (NFC) adoption is still developing slowly, so the numbers aren’t really important for now.
Because of Bitcoin’s volatility, there are no current forecasts for the cryptocurrency, but the fact that there are some limitations to mobile payments that Bitcoin may overcome is really important.
“Mobile payments are a booming business with hundreds of companies spending millions of dollars to fight each other. But every mobile payment company has the same two problems”, says BitPay CEO Tony Gallippi.
These problems are that mobile payment companies “are all walled gardens, and users cannot transact outside the walls” and the fact that these providers don’t work internationally. “I can have 10 mobile payment apps on the phone, but if I go to Europe, not a single one of them will do me any good. And for an international traveler, something simple that works is better than something slick that doesn’t”, he adds.
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