The first industries to bank on bitcoin
The Gaming Sector remains arguably the biggest supporter of cryptocurrency
Back at the beginning of 2010 Bitcoin was nothing more than an intrepid idea with a whole lot of mathematics and computing behind it.
Most people had never even heard of it and even a year or so on, the idea of it becoming mainstream was largely laughed at. Yet, there were some sectors that were willing to put their money where their mouth was and back the new cryptocurrency. They began to use the pioneering blockchain technology in their own business activities, they started allowing customers to pay for their goods in crypto.
It was a huge gamble, but a little over a decade later, Bitcoin has burst into the mainstream, alongside a slew of other cryptocurrencies. We’re going to look at the first steps that got them here:
The Gaming Sector
The Gaming Sector remains arguably the biggest supporter of cryptocurrency, particularly those com-panies within the sphere of online gaming. Many games have an in-game currency already, it has worth usually within the game only and can be used to buy items, upgrades, and so on. Some games also have a premium currency which has value both within the game and can be bought for real mon-ey outside of the game.
It made total sense for these games to adopt cryptocurrency because it bridges the gap between the online and the offline world. You’ll find a selection of games nowadays like Axie Infinity and Crypto Kitties that work with both blockchain and crypto to create a superior gaming experience.
Alongside the gaming sector, which uses cryptocurrency for purchasing items, add-ons, and expan-sions, there’s another industry that found great use for crypto – online gambling, with Ignition’s Bitcoin Casino being a great example of the adoption. This casino accepts cryptocurrency as a deposit method so that people can pay with crypto and for crypto on all their casino games.
This makes sense as a model as crypto allows people to move, trade, and pay for goods with their money completely anonymously. Not everybody wants their hobbies to be broadcasted, so having that option of anonymity can be really comforting.
Not only this, but with such stringent security measures and a log that everybody can see, crypto is a super safe option for an industry that puts paramount importance on user security.
The Fast-Food Industry
It makes sense to move from the biggest supporter to the sector that was their right at the beginning. So, the first company ever to allow a sale using Bitcoin, was, of course, Papa John’s. Back in 2010, one lucky customer spent 10,000 bitcoins and received a pizza in return. At the time this was about what you’d expect to pay for a pizza, roughly $20.
However, in today’s market, that number hovers around the $1.5 million mark. This might sound like a lot for a pizza, but when you consider that it was the transaction that proved that Bitcoin could work, it seems slightly better value.
Following on from this, the fast-food sector continued to accept Bitcoin for transactions. KFC Canada launched the Bitcoin Bucket around five years later and soon Subway and Burger King followed suit with their respective Bitcoin offers. Nowadays it is still possible to pay in cryptocurrency at some stores, particularly in the USA and East Asia, where small businesses like sandwich bars and coffee shops accept payments of considerably less than 10,000 bitcoins in exchange for their goods.
The Tech Industry
Tech companies are often quick to back new ideas because they’re always coming up with them too. Companies like Apple and Microsoft can look at a new technology without bias and decide whether they think it has what it takes to be successful.
As it turned out for Bitcoin back in 2014, Microsoft thought it had what it took, which says a lot com-ing from the biggest company in the world. There’d been a catastrophic setback for Bitcoin at the time, when the world’s largest crypto exchange, Mt. Gox collapsed. This understandably induced panic in the world of crypto traders, but Microsoft saw this as an opportunity. They decided that their company would be the one to help Bitcoin get back on its feet and hopefully make a nice chunk of change at the same time.
They started by making it possible for people to purchase games with cryptocurrency and this seemed to be an overnight success for them. Shortly after, they introduced the possibility of buying apps and expansions for their games, before expanding into tangible items. PC software and games consoles were next on Microsoft’s list and the bravery that they had to back bitcoin at one of its historic lows really helped to regenerate some trust in the currency.
Nowadays, it’s possible to buy technology from a whole slew of retailers using various cryptocurren-cies. In fact, some tech companies have even jumped right onto the band wagon and released their own cryptocurrencies. Microsoft’s well-placed trust manage to make a big difference to a market that was looking slightly precarious.
