Bitpay Statistics Show the Use of Bitcoin for Payments Is Dwindling

January 18, 2022 Bitcoin.com

P2P exchange Paxful integrates Lightning Network

September 14, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Lightning Network is the leading Bitcoin scalability solution, providing layer-two transaction capabilities separate from BTC’s main blockchain.

Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange Paxful has integrated Lightning Network into its platform, giving its 7 million users access to near-instant Bitcoin (BTC) transfers.

The new feature gives users the ability to send and receive BTC from their Paxful Wallet in a matter of seconds and with much lower fees than existing blockchain transactions, the company announced Tuesday.

Paxful co-founder and CEO Ray Youssef described Bitcoin as “the best financial option” but acknowledged that scalability issues could be hindering adoption. He said Lightning Network is Bitcoin’s greatest chance of achieving the scalability needed to make microtransactions a reality.

The global online microtransaction market was valued at roughly $34.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10% over the next four years, according to industry research. The video game industry and the virtual goods and services that it propagates are becoming a major catalyst for the growth of microtransactions.

Lightning Network is being developed to facilitate Bitcoin payments and allow users to quickly and reliably engage in off-chain transactions through a second layer. Lightning currently boasts over 26,500 nodes for a network capacity of 2,468.93 BTC at the time of writing.

In the absence of a viable transaction layer, Bitcoin has carved out a strong niche as an investable asset. However, creating an electronic cash system was a key component of Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 Bitcoin white paper. (Interestingly, and as Cointelegraph recently explained, the Bitcoin founder’s forum posts and correspondences used “cash” and “gold” synonymously.)

There’s strong reason to believe that Lightning Network will achieve wider utility on the Paxful trading platform. As of April 2021, the P2P exchange had processed over $5 billion in volume, with Africa — a region that is quickly adopting Bitcoin as a medium of exchange — emerging as one of its biggest markets.

InComm Payments merchants can now accept crypto through Flexa

July 7, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Payments

Payments are the next major hurdle for global cryptocurrency adoption. A new partnership between Incomm Payments and Flexa will enable crypto payments for hundreds of thousands of merchants worldwide.

Incomm Payments, a global payments provider with over 500,000 points of distribution, has entered into a partnership with Flexa that allows merchants to start accepting cryptocurrency payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and dozens of other digital assets.

Stefan Happ, Incomm Payments’ president, said the new partnership will enable merchants to capitalize on growing retail adoption of cryptocurrencies:

“By integrating with Flexa’s comprehensive solution for digital currency acceptance, we’re helping to unlock powerful consumer spending opportunities for brands and further enrich the consumer experience.”

Flexa co-founder Trevor Filter said his platform was designed to “make payments more efficient, accessible, and affordable for people all over the world,” adding:

“Our merchant-focused mission is one-hundred percent aligned with InComm Payments’ relentless focus on developing valuable, innovative solutions for their retail customers [...]”

Flexa allows merchants to accept digital dollars like Celo, Dai, Gemini dollar and USD Coin. It also supports ten digital tokens, including Chainlink (LINK), Terra (LUNA) and Loopring (LRC). Supported cryptocurrencies include BTC, ETH, Algorand (ALGO) and Dogecoin (DOGE), among others.

Payments are a highly touted but underutilized use case of cryptocurrencies. However, that appears to be changing as technology companies and merchant services providers slowly introduce new onramps to allow cryptocurrency transactions. As Cointelegraph reported, e-commerce merchant services provider OLB Group recently announced that more than 8,500 of its business customers can now accept crypto payments.

Crypto payments are also gaining traction in places like Latin America and Africa as locals try to circumnavigate currency controls and exchange-rate volatility.

Telcoin (TEL) gains 300% after layer-2 migration to the Polygon network

May 6, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin Watch

TEL price broke out into a vertical rally after a protocol upgrade and a layer-2 migration that enabled trading on QuickSwap.

The ability to send money to anyone, anywhere, at any time was one of the original motivations behind Bitcoin (BTC) that helped give rise to the expanding cryptocurrency ecosystem that exists today.

Blockchain-based global remittance platforms are one sector of crypto projects that have evolved over time to help meet the needs of peer-to-peer money transactions, and Telcoin (TEL) is one such project that has made significant gains in 2021.

*TEL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of Telcoin has surged more than 4,100% since Feb. 1, rallying from a low of $0.00066 to a new all-time high at $0.0286 on May 5 as the altcoin saw a record $110 million in 24-hour trading volume.

Shift to global remittances ignite the rally

A scroll through the Telcoin Twitter feed shows that the project recently launched an upgraded protocol that enabled its remittance services between the Philippines and Canada to go live on Feb. 4.

The launch of V2 included new versions of both iOS and Android mobile applications that users in participating jurisdictions can download in the Apple and Google Play store.

According to the Telcoin team, Canada is the “first of four initial sending markets that Telcoin is entering for fiat remittances,” and it will soon be “followed by Singapore, Australia, and the USA.”

The project gained further attention in late February when Telcoin CEO Paul Neuner appeared before the Nebraska State Legislature to talk about opportunities in the fintech space and how the state could benefit from legislation geared toward turning Nebraska into a decentralized finance hub.

Layer 2 trading lifts TEL price to new highs

After trading sideways through most of March and April, TEL price received a dose of rocket fuel thanks to the token being listed on the QuickSwap decentralized exchange that operates on Polygon, a layer-2 protocol buil on the Ethereum network.

The lower fee environment of the Polygon network and the attractive yield opportunities for liquidity providers on QuickSwap likely led to the surge in trading volume for TEL.

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, market conditions for TEL have been favorable for some time.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

*VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. TEL price. Source:* *Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for TEL was elevated following its launch on QuickSwap which initially elevated the price above $0.01. The score continued to rise and reached a high of 95 on May 3, roughly two days before the price rallied 84% to a new all-time high on May 5.

With a globally relevant use case now operating in a low fee, layer-2 environment, Telcoin has the potential to attract a wide range of global users. As blockchain technology increases its mainstream presence and new participants look for cheaper ways to transfer funds and make payments, TEL price could see further appreciation.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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