Cryptocurrencies recently took another step towards even wider acceptance into the lives of everyday Americans.
And that spells a potentially amazing opportunity for you. Here’s how…
Cryptocurrency acceptance spreading
The fact of the matter is that cryptocurrencies are the logical next step in electronic financial transactions that was started by governments’ use of fiat currency…
Without the drawbacks of currency.
What drawbacks?
Well, first of all, you may have noticed the inflation that occurred in the U.S. over the last few years.
Because inflation is a mass “printing” of money in the economy, it is actually a devaluation of the money, so goods and services appear to cost more.
In reality, each dollar is worth less, so it takes more of them to buy the same amount of goods and services.
But cryptocurrencies generally avoid inflation entirely, or tightly control it, by virtue of their source code. Bitcoin and basic attention token (BAT), for example, have a maximum total issuance. Other cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum’s ether token, manage total supply through deflationary mechanisms. (It’s really important to distinguish we’re talking about real established cryptocurrencies here, not memecoins.)
Governments can’t devalue cryptocurrencies for their own purposes (which is usually to enable government spending or to pay off government debts).
The other big feature of cryptocurrencies is the privacy factor. Governments aren’t involved in the transactions, and people’s purchases are their own business. Adam Ludwin with Coin Center writes, when you pay with bitcoin:
…identities are nowhere recorded in the bitcoin protocol itself.
If you’re careful with how you do things, governments can’t track how you’re using your money, which is a big deal, and not just for criminals (no matter what some people may say), but for those who value their personal privacy and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
But that’s on the consumer side of things. The truth is that…
Businesses love payment in cryptocurrencies
It’s true. Businesses would prefer that you pay in cryptocurrency.
Sure, some businesses would prefer that because they are privacy advocates, but even those who don’t see that payment in crypto has significant benefits.
Why? Because it saves them money. Cheyenne Ligon with CoinDesk interviewed Steak n’ Shake COO Dan Edwards, who explained:
“When customers choose to pay in bitcoin instead of credit cards, we are saving about 50% in our processing fees. This means that bitcoin is a win for the customer, it’s a win for us as a merchant, and it’s a win for the bitcoin community.”
Like many things in life and business, it comes down to money. In this case, it comes down to businesses saving a lot when people pay using bitcoin. And it’s not as though accepting credit cards does the business any favors – credit card processing is notoriously expensive.
Steak n’ Shake loves bitcoin so much that they’ve even begun accepting bitcoin as payment to buy a franchise. Bitcoin works great for large and small transactions alike.
You may be asking, though, “That’s great that a big company can sometimes save money by accepting cryptocurrency for payment, but how often will the little guy like me benefit from that?”
Great question. Part of the answer is that if a business has lower costs, often those lower costs mean that you will pay less (because they can make the same amount of profit at the lower cost). That gives them a way to stay competitive in the marketplace and, maybe, increase their customer base.
The other part of the answer is that…
Cryptocurrency payments may become the norm
The easiest way to change the behavior of a business is to offer a better (faster, less expensive) alternative technology. That’s exactly what crypto is doing.
Have you ever heard of the payment processing platform Square? Even if you don’t remember hearing it, you’ve likely used Square to make a purchase from a small business. Square’s small, white touch screen terminals are everywhere.
Square is huge in the small business world. Anna Lynn Dizon with Fit Small Business writes:
The Square payment and point of sale app has been downloaded over 33 million times and has more than 4 million merchant clients.
Over four million businesses already use Square to process their electronic payments. Square’s services can be used by on-the-go businesses, too. Making payments is as easy as a smartphone or tablet and a tiny card reader to process card payments. Such a portable and affordable solution made Square incredibly popular among small businesses.
In fact, you’ve likely swiped your credit card on a Square terminal at an independent coffee shop or merchandise table at a craft fair. (My favorite local bakery, which makes incredible donuts, uses Square for payments.) Overall, small businesses are a big part of the economy, too – generating about 44% of overall economic activity.
Small businesses’ favorite payment platform is about to become even more popular. An article at payment-processing trade journal PYMTS notes:
Block plans to launch bitcoin payments on its business technology platform Square, enabling merchants using the Square Point of Sale app to accept bitcoin payments directly through their Square hardware.
How soon?
The company plans to begin rolling out this new, native Bitcoin For Businesses offering in the second half of the year and then extend it to all Square sellers in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals, it said in a Tuesday (May 27) press release.
In fact, they’ve already started initial limited trial runs of this payment option. MacKenzie Sigalos with CNBC writes:
This week at Bitcoin 2025, Square is piloting real-time bitcoin payments, letting attendees scan and spend crypto for T-shirts, hoodies, and hats at the BTC Inc. pop-up store.
The benefits are clear – businesses get to keep more of their profits. Not only that, but settlement is much faster – bitcoin payments get deposited in about 10 minutes, where credit card payments may not get deposited for up to three business days.
Still have doubts about how much of a big deal Square’s accepting of bitcoin will be for normalizing cryptocurrency transactions into everyday life for typical people? It’s worth noting that Square’s parent company Block also owns Cash App – which already has about 55 million users.
Payment in cryptocurrency is poised to explode into the mainstream
I can’t emphasize this enough. Too often when you hear someone say that something is going to “explode,” it’s simply hype and hyperbole.
That’s simply not the case here.
Cryptocurrency is absolutely going mainstream, and we’ll start seeing that in everyday use by average Americans. I expect businesses to begin offering discounts to people who pay in crypto – because businesses prefer the faster settlement and lower fees involved when they accept crypto payments. Equally, I expect people who care about their financial privacy to increasingly take advantage of crypto payments.
Greater acceptance and use means greater demand for crypto. I expect demand (and price) to continue rising as it becomes increasingly mainstream for the average American to use crypto in their everyday lives.
Those of us who diversify our long-term savings with cryptocurrency stand to benefit from these trends. While the crypto assets in your Digital IRA aren’t available for everyday use, you get to sit back and watch the prices of the cryptocurrencies you’ve acquired rise as acceptance of, and demand for, crypto grows.
Want to take advantage of the growth potential of cryptocurrencies? You can open your Digital IRA right now in less than 10 minutes – and you can do this anytime, even at 4 a.m. Maybe you want to learn more about the benefits of cryptocurrency and start your due diligence? Smart! Get your free copy of The Essential Guide to Digital IRAs right now.
There aren’t many times in our lives when we get to see a world-changing technology evolve right before our eyes. If you want to make sure your personal financial future has a stake in the future of money itself, I strongly advise you to open your Digital IRA today.
