Insights highlight the broad expansion of cryptocurrency spending across industries in response to the bull market.
BitPay, the world’s largest provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, today released its latest report, “The 2024 BitPay Spending Report,” which provides a comprehensive look into cryptocurrency spending during the historic 2024 Bitcoin bull run.
Fintech Insights:Â Hyper-personalization in Banking: The Tech Journey to Serving a Segment of One
Key findings include:
- Crypto payments up 20% from January 2024: March 2024 marked a marquee moment for BTC prices as well as spending.
- Spending trends tail BTC price increases: As the price of BTC and other cryptocurrencies increased, so did crypto consumer spending.
- Spending surges across nearly all industries: From January 1 – March 31, 2024, increased crypto consumer spending spanned nearly every industry, with certain sectors showing especially strong payment growth:
- Cars, Boats and Luxury Vehicles up 56%
- Philanthropy/Non-Profit Donations up 324%
- Luxury Goods & Jewelry up 39%
- Gold & Precious Metals up 205%
- Electronics up 64%
- BTC continues to reign supreme: At the end of March 2024, over 50% of sales volume was BTC, although USDT, LTC, USDC, and ETH are growing contributors to crypto payments sales.
- Spenders use crypto gains to clear debt: Based on BitPay Bill Pay customer data, as of the end of March 2024, customers used crypto gains to pay off debt. Credit card payments made up 85% of BitPay Bill Pay transactions. Bill payments averaged $1,200 per transaction.
- Crypto-powered gift cards offer convenience and flexibility: By the end of March 2024, crypto spenders increasingly converted crypto gains to gift cards to spend online and in-store as an alternative to spending directly with merchants or paying off bills.
“The latest spending trends showcase cryptocurrency’s evolution from investment asset to a means of powering everyday life,” says BitPay CMO Bill Zielke. “With an ever-growing lineup of top-tier merchants accepting crypto payments, consumers have unprecedented opportunities to spend their coins and tokens. In addition to merchant payments, crypto-powered gift cards and bill payments enable crypto spenders to explore new, flexible payment options.”
These early 2024 increases in crypto spending preceded the recent Bitcoin halving, which has historically positively impacted crypto markets and, in turn, led to even more spending.
Read More About Fintech Interviews:Â How Blockchain-Powered Ecosystems Are Poised to Transform the Agricultural Sector
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]
