New York Digital Group (NYDIG) Cryptocurrency investment firm revealed in a report that the total number of bitcoin transactions in 2021 exceeded the annual number of payments processed by American Express. According to NYDIG, bitcoin processed $ 3.007 trillion in payments, well ahead of American Express ($ 1.3 trillion) and Discover ($ 0.5 trillion).
However, the amount processed by bitcoin in 2021 surpassed the number of market – leading credit cards, Visa ($ 13.5 trillion) and Mastercard ($ 7.7 trillion), the study notes. Some credit card revenues are more closely related to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Visa on January 27 reported significant growth in spending using prepaid credit cards with cryptocurrencies. In the last quarter of 2021 alone, that figure was over $ 2.5 billion.
” We think this is a great growth for a payment network that is only 13 years old.“, Says NYDIG. The firm says big credit cards have many years of history. Visa was launched in 1958, and in the same year the first American Express card was launched. Mastercard and Discovery were launched in 1966 and 1985, respectively, the report said.
As can be seen in the chart below, while bitcoin ranks third among major credit card payment networks, its annual growth is much greater than that of traditional payment processors.
From 2020 to 2021, processed bitcoin payments increased from $ 886 million to $ 3.007 trillion, more than tripling, or growing 239%. In comparison, Visa and Mastercard’s annual growth rates were 18.7% and 21.9% respectively.
If these growth rates continue through 2022, bitcoin could surpass Mastercard in the number of transactions this year. While Visa would top $ 16 billion with 18.7% growth this year, Bicoin would top $ 10 billion this year, if it had a boom similar to 2021. Meanwhile, with Mastercard up 21.9% this year, it would reach a transaction amount of $ 9.41. trillion.
A Blockdata report published last November also compared the amount of Bitcoin processed in 2021, compared to Visa and Mastercard. Among the findings of the report, Blockdata pointed out that it was quite significant that a payment network like bitcoin, which was only 12 years old, reached 27% of the volume of Mastercard, created in 1966. This performance becomes even more significant when considering. the decentralized nature of bitcoin.
