A few countries, such as El Salvador or Honduras Prospera, have already accepted Bitcoin as a legal tender for the whole country. It is now companies’ turn to start having interest in that matter. During the last Bitcoin Conference, one of the biggest yearly events dedicated to BTC, Jack Mallers announced that it will be possible for 400.000 brands to accept BTC as a means of payment.
Every website and storekeepers relying on Shopify (e-commerce website builder), NCR (payment solution software), and Blackhawk (gift cards and digital rewards specialist), will be able to sell their products and their services using BTC. Those transactions will be achieved thanks to the Lightning Network. The latter is a decentralized network using smart contract functionality in the blockchain to enable instant payments across a network of participants.
During his presentation, Mallers disclosed a few brand names that could accept BTC as a method of payment. Among them, there are some well-known brands such as McDonalds’, Home Depot, Walmart, or Starbucks. It is to note that McDonalds’ already accepts Bitcoin as a form of payment in its restaurants located in El Salvador since September 2021, the first country to have adopted cryptocurrency as legal tender (cf: Forbes).
Although there are no further details about this announcement, this new solution could truly help enhance and generalize the use of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. Nonetheless, this news only relates to the United States so far, there was nothing said as for the extension to other countries.
