Fiverr, the global marketplace for service beginning at just five dollars (hence the name) has announced that they have ceased taking Bitcoin as payment for their gigs. They began taking the currency in February of 2014 but have decided to drop the option due to a lack of interest.

Though disappointing, this is not a surprising development, and Fiverr is not the first vendor to start taking Bitcoin and then later walk away. On Reddit there are numerous stories of people who have sought out a local bitcoin accepting bar on Coinmap or other service only to find that the staff don’t know about it or the owner admitting that he’d like to accept it, but it was too much trouble.

The fact that not more than a handful of businesses accept Bitcoin has become one of the chief arguments used by naysayers against Bitcoin. How can it be a currency when it isn’t accepted anywhere? ABSURD!

The naysayers have a point, but they also are missing the point. Bitcoin is not and cannot be a currency of daily exchange until its value and usage has reached a tipping point where people are demanding it from their favorite stores and restaurants. The active Bitcoin community of only a couple or so million spread out over the planet is far too small to give most businesses a true reason to use Bitcoin.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t businesses committed to participating in the Bitcoin economy, including Microsoft, Virgin, and many others. It is to say that I don’t blame a business if they decide the returns aren’t enough to justify the effort of maintaining Bitcoin services, as in the case of Fiverr.

No, Bitcoin needs to go through significant growth before we see significant opting in by businesses–and that was always the case. When Bitcoin begins its hockey stick rise, its use case will shift from being primarily a speculative bet or a hedge to actual currency for everyday exchange.

For BitcoinWarrior’s part, we try to do what we can by giving businesses that offer a discount for Bitcoin purchases free space on this site. We encourage any business that does accept Bitcoin to visit the ‘submit your business’ link at the top of the page and let us promote you.

As for Fiverr, we wish them all the luck and the world, and when the situation changes, we will be very happy to announce that they are once again accepting Bitcoin.