The number of merchants around the world accepting Bitcoin as payment for their goods and services grew more than 2.5 times in 2023. By the end of the year, the number of merchants accepting BTC exceeded 6,100.
According to BTC Map, merchants around the world that accept Bitcoin payments grew by 174% in 2023. The number of restaurants, bars, and stores accepting BTC reached 6,126 by the end of the year.
In early 2023, BTC Map analysts registered 2,207 merchants accepting BTC. At the end of September, their number increased to peak at 6,590 before declining slightly through the end of 2023.
Bitcoin is most actively accepted as a means of payment in Central and South America. Europe and the United States also have a fairly high concentration of merchants accepting Bitcoin. The least use of Bitcoin as a means of payment is in Africa and Asia. In China, India, and Russia, there are almost no retail outlets accepting BTC.
Notably, BTC Map uses open mapping data from OpenStreetMap. Thus, the analytics takes into account only those data that entrepreneurs or users have marked as a place where it’s possible to pay with Bitcoin. It’s likely that the number of real merchants that support payment in BTC could be much higher. BTC Map analysts emphasize that users and business owners have begun to be more conscientious about adding businesses to the database, but regulatory uncertainty around digital assets continues to hinder openness on the matter.
By the way, it was recently reported that Mercari, one of Japan’s largest e-commerce platforms, will allow flea market app users to purchase goods with Bitcoin. Sellers will be paid in Japanese yen, the exchange of cryptocurrencies will take place in real time via the Melcoin platform.
According to the latest research, in 2023, the number of crypto users reached 425 million and about half of them prefer Bitcoin.
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