Bitcoin’s rising success is rarely mentioned in the press, whether by supporters or critics. Because of Bitcoin’s high uncertainty, many buyers, including Warren Buffet, have labeled it and other cryptocurrencies risky and worthless. However, such alerts have not deterred more businesses from adopting the currency as a form of official payment.

Elon Musk revealed in February that Tesla would consider bitcoin as payment for all versions of its cars in the United States. Furthermore, Twitter’s CEO and chairman, Jack Dorsey, partnered with Jay-Z to establish a bitcoin endowment. The two will invest 500 bitcoins in India and Africa to help the currency develop. Hundreds of other prominent businesses around different sectors consider cryptocurrency as a legitimate means of payment, despite Tesla grabbing the headlines.

Fast Food

One of the world’s leading fast-food holding firms is Restaurant Brands International. Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes are all owned by this corporation. Burger King Venezuela revealed last year that it will start embracing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It partnered with Cryptobuyer, a website that produces cryptocurrency to fiat currency conversions.

Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, is also accepting cryptocurrency payments. Last year, the company accepted bitcoin as a legitimate payment option at Pizza Hut Venezuela. Yum Brands has also teamed up with CryptoBuyer to help launch cryptocurrency payment methods. In a deal with BitPay, KFC Canada approved cryptocurrencies as payment for things like the Bitcoin Bucket for a limited time.

Big Tech Companies

Xbox is again allowing bitcoin payments for Xbox shop credits, after temporarily suspending the cryptocurrency as a legitimate payment mechanism due to its uncertainty. Here should also be mentioned that bitcoin, due to its nature that the transactions are easy and quick to make, is taking an important place in the entertainment industry. For example, there is increased popularity and demand for the online casinos accepting Bitcoin payments, which was also caused by the covid pandemic as people were unable to leave their homes and had to find ways to entertain themselves. Meanwhile, according to Yahoo Finance, PayPal revealed in October 2020 that customers will be able to purchase, sell, and retain select cryptocurrencies from their Cash or Cash Plus accounts beginning in 2021. Inside the PayPal app, users would be able to learn about and monitor cryptocurrency.

While Amazon does not accept bitcoin as a payment form, Bitrefill allows you to purchase Amazon coupons and gift cards. This is a cryptocurrency-only business that allows customers to top up subscription-based utilities with cryptocurrency until spending it on Amazon.

Tesla - Tesla, the electric carmaker, is the first company to declare that it will welcome Bitcoin payments for auto sales in the United States in recent weeks. It follows Elon Musk’s company’s $1.5 billion (€1.2 billion) investment in the blockchain in February.

Visa – Visa reported at the end of March that it was testing a scheme with cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com to accept cryptocurrency for payment settlement on its payment network. USD Coin (USDC), a stable coin cryptocurrency pegged to the value of the US dollar, would now be accepted.

PayPal - PayPal users can now buy, sell, or keep a select few cryptos, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, following an announcement in October last year. You’ll also be able to monitor cryptocurrencies using the PayPal app. The only disadvantage is that money cannot be exchanged out of the digital wallet of the firm.

Microsoft - Microsoft’s acceptance of Bitcoin transfers, as one of the world’s leading tech firms, is notable in terms of instilling trust in the use of cryptos. Bitcoin, which can be redeemed for credit and used to top up user balances, can be used to pay for a variety of services, including Xbox Live and Skype. The company’s interest in cryptography isn’t limited to that. In late March, Microsoft introduced ION, a two-layered authentication framework based on blockchain, on the Bitcoin network. Instead of accepting fees, the technology generates digital IDs that can be used to verify online identities.

Drink Companies

In the Asia Pacific region, Coca-Cola Amatil is one of the largest bottlers and distributors of non-alcoholic and ready-to-drink drinks. In a press release last year, the firm announced a collaboration with Centrepay, an online assets portal. It was able to accept bitcoin as an official payment system as a result of this. According to a CoinDesk survey, over 2,000 vending machines in Australia and New Zealand now support cryptocurrency.

According to Nasdaq, Starbucks started testing bitcoin payments through the Bakkt software last year. The crypto asset platform app introduced their digital wallet app this week, allowing consumers to exchange bitcoin for US dollars and reload their Starbucks cards.

Airlines

In 2014, Latvian airline airBaltic became the first airline in the world to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for tickets. Since launching the payment option seven years ago, the firm claims to have completed over 1,000 Bitcoin transactions. Following its lead, another eastern European carrier, LOT Polish Airlines, did the same the following year.

In 2015, LOT Polish Airlines revealed that it will consider Bitcoin as a payment option for flights, following in the footsteps of airBaltic. Despite the passage of six years after its decision, LOT remains the only European airline that accepts cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

Summing It Up

Finally, to sum up, it is vivid that the acceptance of bitcoin is happening to be the trend. It is widely known that the general attitude towards bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies was generally skeptical because people were confused with the main purpose of its use. However, once the valid companies, that play a major role in our lives, make announcements that promote the use of digital currencies the popularity and demand for the currency increase dramatically. Lately, we had a similar case when Elon Musk started saying that his company Tesla would start accepting bitcoin as a payment method and as a result, the price of the coin outreached its historical maximum.

Even though companies that were mentioned above are trying to promote the use and the popularity of bitcoin, here is the restrictive factor. Government regulations on it are difficult to predict as a lot of them are restrictive due to the nature of cryptocurrencies generally. Blockchain system ensures the anonymity of the user, which makes it impossible for the government to track where the money from the country is flowing to.