No one can deny Bitcoin is not in a good place right now. In fact, the world’s leading cryptocurrency is in its worst position in many years. More specifically, the high fees and slow transactions have been rather problematic. As such, it’s not surprising companies are dropping Bitcoin support all of a sudden. The most recent company to do so is Stripe. In their recent blog post, the company confirms BTC is no longer a viable option to support.
Stripe has been a loyal supporter of Bitcoin since 2014. In fact, they were the first major payments company to officially support BTC. At the time, it seemed like a smart decision. Unfortunately, things have come to a rather surprising turn of events. So much even that the company is ditching Bitcoin altogether. It was only a matter of time until this decision would go into effect. The world’s leading cryptocurrency fails to live up to most people’s expectations.
Stripe Wil Wind Down Bitcoin Support Soon
With the block size limit not increasing Bitcoin is an asset first and foremost. Stripe acknowledges BTC is no longer a suitable medium of exchange. That situation will not change automatically either. The lack of scaling hurts Bitcoin’s potential It has done for years now and will continue to do so. Even the Lightning Network may arrive woefully late to solve these problems. Bitcoin simply isn’t useful for payments in its current form.
As such, there is less desire from Stripe customers to use Bitcoin as well. Any companies accepting BTC through this platform saw revenue decline significantly. It is evident the current version of Bitcoin isn’t doing anyone any favors whatsoever. Fewer use cases for this technology make it unfeasible for any major company to continue supporting it. It’s a sad decision, but everyone can understand where Stripe is coming from. BTC Payments will be shut down completely on April 23 of 2018.
It is worth mentioning the company isn’t giving up on cryptocurrencies. They are keeping a close eye on things as we speak. Other currencies may be supported in the future. Ethereum, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are all on the list. For now, there are no plans to effectively integrate any of these options, though. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Stripe. After all, they don’t need Bitcoin to succeed. Bitcoin without Stripe, however, may prove to be a bit problematic.
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